


Terra Swoop Force but real

by Leia_Bunny



Category: Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:42:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 16
Words: 27,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28436328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leia_Bunny/pseuds/Leia_Bunny
Summary: The Terra Swoop force journey to the centre of the earth to find the lost boredrill, but things are not what expected
Comments: 39
Kudos: 43





	1. Short Opening Thing? Prologue? You get the Idea

“Welcome!” Sasha called over to Stefan as he walked through the doors of the GDL building. “We were expecting you almost half an hour ago!”

“Traffic!” He called back. “Trust me, I would’ve got here sooner if it was up to me!”

If he was late too many times, he’d undoubtably be fired, and then they’d undoubtably try to use his invention to their own devices. Probably slightly more malicious than what he wanted them to do. That was the main reason he _needed_ to be on time. This was the day of the most important meeting of his life.

Geo Descent Labs - GDL - was an energy and exploration company, lead by Dr Sir Mrs Alan Columbus III. (Also known as Dr Columbus, or Alan if you were one of his close friends) It had had various bases all over the planet in the 30 years since it’s founding; but recently they decided to attempt to reactivate their oldest project. The journey to the centre of the Earth. Originally, they sent two people in a drill. Dr Barney, and Dr Minnowski. However, in a moment of national confusion and panic, GDL had lost contact with the drill; and after years had passed with no contact, they knew that those people were likely dead.

GDL had come up with a new energy project, using up to date technology. But, as a key part of it, they needed the drill.

This is where Stefan’s invention came into it. He had discovered a special type of metal - Noxesium. He had created a special wingsuit using this metal. Normal wingsuits were very advanced, but this wingsuit was strong enough, and well enough made, that it could potentially withstand the heat and pressure of the Earth’s core.

He got one of his friends - Lauren, another junior member at GDL - to help him to code it, and the meeting was involving the potential of actually using these wingsuits.

Stefan knocked on the door. The door opened, though he didn’t see who by. His boss - Stan - and his boss’ boss - Dr Mrs Sir Alan Columbus III - were sat one side of a table. And on the other side of the table was Lauren, and also an empty chair.

Stefan sat down on the chair, looking at the other three. “Sorry I’m late.” He said, almost completely out of breath.

“It’s not important,” Stan replied. “It just means you have half an hour less to assemble your team.”

“My team?”

Lauren laughed in excitement, as Alan explained. “We’re using your suit, Noxite. Creating a new group called the Terra Swoop Force. A team of eight. And you’re going to lead it.”

Stefan looked to Lauren, excitement, but also slight fear in his eyes.

“We already have three of you, but you need to organise the other five.”

“Three?” Stefan asked. “Me, Lauren - I assume - who else?”

The person who opened the door laughed. “You think I’d miss out on an adventure with you Stefan?”

She winked, and Stefan stood up, and pulled Noctis, one of his oldest friends, into a tight hug.

“I can’t wait.” She whispered in his ear.


	2. The Squad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stefan and Noctis recruit a team!

The wings weren't only used for sciency purposes; even though they were intended for it. This was evident by the event Stefan and Noctis were currently watching. They weren't paying much attention to the event, and instead catching up with each other. The reason they were there was for after the event.

Even though Stefan and Noctis weren't paying attention, everyone else in the audience were. The three best professional fliers - any list made always had those three in the top three positions, just a variation in the order - Scott Major, Phil Watson, and Callum Knight. Scott, Philza, and Seapeekay.

Scott was in the lead, with Callum and then Phil in very close succession. Scott laughed, there were only a few more corners to go, he was easily going to win this! And he needed it. There were only a few races left this season, and if Callum won this race as well, Scott would have to try a _lot_ harder in the next two to still have a chance.

Phil wasn't far behind Callum, but at this point something would have to go wrong to change the positions up front. Luckily for all three, nobody made a mistake, nobody hit anything.

As Scott swooped through the finish line, and started coming back down to land, Stefan pointed him out to Noctis. "Him." he whispered. "That's Scott. He's one of my newer frien-"

"Like Lauren?" Noctis cut him off, a slight giggle in her tone, though she hid it as well as she could.

Stefan rolled his eyes, also laughing slightly. "Yes, like Lauren. My _friend_. You jealous?"

Noctis shoved him lightly, leaning in further, a glimmer in her eyes "You wish! Ready to go talk to him?"

But Scott walked over to them before they even had a chance to stand up. He hadn't even removed his wing suit yet. "Stefan!" His accent seemed stronger than normal, though that was probably him being slightly out of breath. Stefan finally stood up, and hugged him.

"Scott!" Stefan said "Can you come with me?"

~

Callum had come in a very close second, and was now standing, talking to Phil, as they watched the trail-runners come into the ending section of the course. They were wondering why Scott hadn't come and joined them. He said he would straight away, and it wasn't like he was talking to his brother. He'd said his brother couldn't come to this race, because of school.

They saw him following another man out of the stadium. Phil was very confused at what this could be, and turned to as Callum what he thought.

Callum - who knew Scott a lot better than Phil did - thought he knew exactly what was going on, which was why he was following where Scott, and no longer standing next to Phil.

Unfortunately for Callum, he was wrong in his assumptions. When he saw the pair, there was a third person sitting with them, laughing over the man trying to talk to Scott.

~

Neither Stefan or Scott were paying enough attention to where Callum came from to see him, and if Noctis did, she didn't mention it.

As to what Noctis was laughing about, there wasn't anything in particular. Mostly just at Stefan. She didn't need anything more specific than that. He was currently trying to explain GDL's newest project to Scott.

And Scott seemed to be on board.

"How long do you reckon?" He asked. "It seems like a long journey, even with wing aid. And I'm assuming most of you don't use these professionally. They're very tiring to use for even an hour or so, we'll need a lot of breaks."

"We think maybe a week, probably closer to two. We're not sure how things are when it's closer to the core."

Scott nodded. "I'm in! How many people do you have so far? And how many suits have been made?" He was asking a lot of questions, but he knew how important these would be. "Are you sure you'll be able to get enough food and water and everything?"

Stefan laughed. "Don't worry Scott! It's all planned out! We're not going to starve. We're not going to dehydrate. We're not going to freeze or overheat. And there's eight suits, but only four of us so far-" he cut the word off, quickly, before trying to recover it. "Three of us, four if you agree."

"Do you really think I'd turn this down?" Scott asked, his voice getting higher as he asked the question, a smile on his face.

"What's this about?" Another voice rung out. "Some kinda wing suit thing? More important than talking to the people you arranged to talk to?"

Callum hadn't taken his wings off either, and had walked over to where the other three were, he extended a hand. "I'm Callum. Scott was meant to come talk to me and Phil."

Stefan shook his hand, and as Callum extended his hand to Noctis, he explained what was going. "I'm Ste-" he turned his head slightly at the voice crack, before continuing. "Stefan. Head of the Terra Swoop Force. What do you know about the failed drill project. 30 years ago."

Callum looked back to Stefan. "I know that GDL sent a drill to try and harvest the centre of the Earth? We learnt about it a bit early on at school. Not much talking about it since then though."  
  
"Want to help get it back?" Noctis asked with a smirk. Callum's jaw practically dropped. "I get to help... get it back?"

If someone's brain could be buffering, that is what was happening to Callum at this point. He turned to Scott. "So we get to be on the same team for once?"

Scott laughed. "I mean, I'm still going to beat you if we do happen to take part in any little rivalries!"

Stefan grinned. "That's only three more people we need. Either of you know anyone?"

Callum and Scott turned to each other and were both about to say something - possibly the same thing - when a different voice spoke.

"Do I hear wingsuit mission?" Phil asked, coming up behind them.

Stefan's face lit up. "Do I hear three professional users of wingsuits taking part in my mission?"

They all smiled, as Phil sat down to hear Stefan's explanation for the expedition. For the third time that day, he - with Noctis' _very helpful_ (not helpful at all) commentary - explained the mission.

~

Tommy had been on his phone before Tubbo. Strictly speaking, neither boy was allowed to go on their phone during school hours, but Tommy saw how much Tubbo was excited and impatient to see the results of the latest race.

"He won!" Tommy whispered, careful to not let their teacher see him on his phone.

"He won?!" Tubbo didn't whisper, andas Tommy nodded, their teacher looked over at the pair disapprovingly.

"Phones away! Both of you."

Tommy and Tubbo spoke at the same time; Tommy saying "But the wingsuits race results!", and Tubbo asking "but please, I need to text my brother."

"Oh go on then," the teacher replied. "At least you're still in class instead of skipping it to go watch. Go, message him, I'm sure you'll want to congratulate him on his win!"

Tubbo started frantically typing on his phone, as people started talking among themselves.

_Congrats!!!!_

_~_

Scott felt a vibration in his pocket, and took out his phone. He looked down, and smiled, before tapping out a thank you message. "My brother!" he said, looking at the others' confused faces. "He was congratulating me on my win." He turned to Callum smugly.

"He'd've congratulated you even if you came last, Scott!" Callum retorted, smiling. He wasn't lying. Tubbo was a very happy person, and liked congratulating people, especially his brother.

"If he does make it into the races, he'd still congratulate you for doing so well, regardless of if he beats you or you beat him!" Phil's words made Stefan even more alert.

"You have a brother?" Stefan asked, "And he likes the wingsuits as well?"  
  
Scott nodded. "Him and his best friend both."

Stefan grinned and turned to Noctis, and then back to Scott. "Do you think they'd be interested in the Terra Swoop Force?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :D What do people think about this so far? Any ideas on what might come?


	3. Wingsuits and Mission Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They start planning the mission

"Tommy! Tommy! TOMMY!" Tubbo was yelling in excitement. As soon as class had ended, he pulled out his phone, and saw a reply from his brother. "WE GET TO DO A MISSION!!" a grin filled his face. "SCOTT'S PART OF A MISSION AND WE GET TO HELP!"

Tommy was confused, asking Tubbo what the mission was.

"Thank you Tubbo! It was a lot of fun today! I'm actually a bit busy right now. Talking about a mission!" Tubbo started.

Tubbo stopped reading it outloud, instead reading in his head, before looking back at Tommy. “Scott’s going on a wingsuit mission to the centre of the planet! GDL want two more people, and Scott said it can be us!”

"Us?" Tommy was as excited as Tubbo, who was incredibly excited. "We get to use proper wingsuits?"

Tubbo nodded rapidly, grabbing Tommy's hand, and pulling him out of the school building. "C'mon! We need to go to the GDL base! That's where Scott asked us to go to meet the team." he clarified, a massive smile on both their faces.

~

Stan checked his watch. "Noxite?" he said. "You said your team would be ready by now."

Stefan sighed. "There's only two more people! And you gave me 24 hours - well, 23 and a half - but yes, the final two are nearly here!" He looked at the other group, standing a bit further away. Lauren, Noctis, Callum, Scott, and Phil. The team would also have Scott's brother Tubbo, and Tubbo's friend Tommy, who were on their way. Stefan wasn't sure that the team would be enough, but there weren't enough suits for anyone else to join the group.

His mind switched when he heard screams - but of excitement, not fear - growing closer. "It's here!" Tubbo called out.

"Tubbo!" Scott called out, running down to where his brother was. "Tommy!" he smiled at the other boy. "Come on."

"This is your team?" Stan questioned. "Noxite?" Stefan nodded. "Yep. I'm aware it's not the best, but I'm sure we'll manage!"

"Very well." Stan said "Let's go inside. Get your group, meet at the upstairs meeting room in 5 minutes."

Stefan left Stan, Stan heading up to the presentation room; Stefan heading back to his friends, and now colleagues.

Tubbo was bouncing between his heels and toes in excitement. "Hi!" he said, looking at Stefan, "I'm Tubbo!"

Stefan looked at Scott, unsure which name to use, "I'm...Noxite." He finally chose the name to use. It'd be smarter, more people would be calling him Noxite - his professional name, than Stefan - his actual name.

"Anyway, everyone." Stefan said. "We need to go watch a presentation. The mission begins today."

~

Stan was sat at the back of the room, a remote control in his hands. As the group walked in, and chose their seats, he pressed the start button on the remote.

"Welcome to Geo Descent Labs!" the announcement started.

As the presentation continued, Alan's voice explained the history of GDL, and the bore drill project.

"And." Alan finished. "Noxite will now take you through your mission, and the most important part of the mission - the Thermal Flight Armour 1541."

Stefan stood up, as the projector turned itself off. "A few months ago, while I was working one of GDL's other energy projects, I discovered a special type of metal. Nothing could melt it, we had to try to sculpt and attach the various pieces to each other. We believe it can keep you a good temperature, even close to the centre of the earth."

Tubbo gasped.

"Our mission is to travel down to the centre of the Earth, and rescue the long-lost bore drill. It'll take about a week and a half to get there, and we'll be walking and flying. We need to take everything with us to get there and back. All the supplies, and suits, are all ready. We just need to get prepared, and go."

The others nodded at him. "Let's go." Stefan said, leading them down some stairs, and towards the elevator.

Once all eight were in the elevator, Lauren pushed a button, that sent it downwards, the cheery music playing.

The lift came to a halt, and the doors opened. They ran out, and down the stairs. Eight suits, in a variety of colours.

Stefan smiled at Lauren, the other person who had helped him create these suits, as Tommy and Tubbo ran ahead to grab their suits.

~

Tubbo had chosen a green suit, with Tommy opting for a white one. Noctis had gone for black, with Lauren and Stefan both choosing matching red ones. The three competitive fliers had all gone for their branding colours, with Scott wearing a bright blue, and Phil wearing a dark green - darker than Tubbo's. Unfortunately, there wasn't an orange suit, but Callum insisted that the brown one was infact orange.

Once they'd all attached their suits, the voiceover started, which Lauren laughed at. Her own voice played back. She coded the assistant software for these wingsuits, and had recorded the voicelines. "Enjoy your flight" she said at the same time as it played through everyone's earphones.

Tommy and Tubbo started messing about, while Scott, Callum, and Phil were learning about the differences between these wingsuits and the ones they normally used.

Once everyone felt comfortable in their suits, Stefan took them to the next elevator, which went upwards.

"The Terra Swoop Force has arrived" the words came over the intercom. Stefan smiled at the others.

"Ok!" Stefan smiled. "We need to get a few things before we jump down." Their wingsuits had backpacks and headsets attached to them, so that they could carry things and communicate with each other.

They made sure that everyone had enough stuff. Luckily, there were things such as food and drink at the base camps, so they only needed to bring enough to get there. As well as the food and drink they each put in their bags, they also had sleeping bags, and a first aid kit that they strapped to their belts.

Stefan was the first to finish filling his bag, and look down to the drop zone, before looking back to the others. "Quick tutorial time." he said. "These headsets have four channels. You see the dial on the side? This controls the channel you're talking to, and listening to. For eases sake, we'll be splitting into pairs - or threes, if you need to. We have alarm watches, and they're synced to the headset. Every 6 hours everyone will be put in the same channel. If you need everyone, push the dial on your headset in, it'll pull everyone into an emergency call. Obviously, you can be in the same channel as other groups if you want, and I suggest people keep as close to each other as possible. But your partner needs to know where you are at all times, in case something goes wrong. I guess everyone choose a partner?"

Tommy and Tubbo immediately grabbed each others arms. Scott sighed, standing by them. "I guess we're a three." he said, "I don't trust these two alone, definitely not to start with. Maybe once we get further into the mission we can." Scott made his voice quieter, pretending that only Tommy and Tubbo were allowed to hear it, with an audible smile in his voice. "And it doesn't help that the only other single man here is certainly straight."

"Hey!" Stefan called, knowing exactly who that was aimed at. "It's not my fault I'm hot!" Like Scott, the smirk on his face was audible, and he was trying not to laugh. Scott winked back, and they both started laughing.

"Anyway" Stefan continued, with a slight crack in his voice. "So, Scott, Tommy, Tubbo, you guys use headphone channel 3. What are the other groups?"

"I'm with Phil" Callum announced. "And then you three together? Three groups?"

"Okay." Stefan said. "Scott, Tommy, Tubbo. You're channel 3. Phil, Callum. Channel 4. Lauren, Noctis, Me. We'll use channel 2. If you want to talk to someone else, use channel 1. Use your device-" he gestured at the device strapped to his belt, the other side to the first aid kit. "To message anyone. They're all linked to the other devices, and you can message everyone, an individual person, or multiple individual people simultaneously." Everyone nodded, looking at their devices and examining them.

"We ready?" Stefan asked, to which they all nodded.


	4. The Adventure Starts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They begin the descent into tunnel 1

The groups had set off at different times, with Tommy and Tubbo being excited, and just wanting to start, so Scott leading them off to begin. Stefan knew that they didn't have to all leave at the same time, and putting some space between groups couldn't be a bad thing. So that was why the other five were sitting on edge of the borehole hatch doors. 

"Do we even have a proper plan?" Callum asked. "Beyond  _ stay on coms with each other, try to not take too long _ ?" 

Stefan lay down, as he looked out of the glass ceiling. He hoped he'd see the sky again, but there was always the possibility that this would be the last time. "The plan is to find the drill. We can split off into these groups - or different groups, whichever works better - for the first two tunnels. There's base camps. Rendezvous points where we can gear back up. We don't know what's after the second base camp, so we need to be closer together for that. Grouping's still fine, but I'd want everyone to be in the same channel, and know where everyone else is." he blinked a few times. There was no point in tears. No point in worrying something would go wrong. 

It was too late to cancel. Scott, Tommy, and Tubbo had already started the journey. Either things would go well, or they wouldn't.

"Phil and I are going to go." Callum said, as he got to his feet, spreading the wings on his wingsuit, as Phil did the same. "Good luck all." he checked his watch, before continuing. "I believe the next group call is in a few hours, but message me if you need me."

Phil made a beckoning gesture with his hand, before activating his own wingsuit and gliding down to the floor of the tunnel. Callum followed him. They both landed on the floor carefully, thinking it would be smart to plan ahead before they started the journey. No sooner had they left the voice range of the drop zone, did Callum realise he needed to message back to the others.  **Hi guys. Quick question. Do we have any sort of amount of time we think it will be?** The response was quick.  **We expect the journey there to be between a week to potentially two weeks. No idea the way back, and no guarantees though, sorry.**

Callum relayed this information to Phil, and they sat down next to each other. They wanted to discuss their plans and flightpaths, but not with three people who - Callum knew that the trio did make all of the special tech, and did set up the mission - but the three people who were not professional fliers. Callum and Phil were also the two people who had - at least in Callum's eyes - the most to need to come back for. Tommy and Tubbo were both children, who had lives ahead of them, but nothing else. 

Callum felt slightly guilty about it, but Phil was married, and he was dating his amazing girlfriend. None of the others were in a relationship. Or at least if they were, Callum didn't know. And though he didn't want to admit it, he knew there was a possibility of some of them not returning. And he needed to return. But he hoped it wouldn't come to what he dreaded it might. 

~

Stefan was lying down still, still looking at the sky. He could hear the birdsong, muffled by the room he was in. Lauren lay down as well, next to him. "It'll be fine." she tried to reassure him. "We know this technology. We know the mission. You ready to go?" He shook his head, not wanting to let go of the trace of fresh air he could still feel. Noctis laughed. "Stefan! It's your project! The other groups left hours ago."

He reluctantly sat up. "Lets go then." he said under his breath, before breathing in deeply, and activating his wingsuit. He twisted the dial on his helmet to channel two. "Make sure we're in contact," he told them, before jumping down the borehole, and gliding - though much less smooth than the previous duo - to the floor. Lauren, and then Noctis followed him, both making slightly more dignified landings than he did. 

After Stefan had stood back up again, the trio considered their first plan. While it may not seem like it, as it was a hole that - at least to start with - only went one way, but they needed to work out which bits to fly, which bits to walk, when and where to stop, rest, eat, sleep. They decided to walk for a bit, none of them felt like flying yet, and while they had to step over the vines and leaves that trailed over the floor in clumps, it wasn't yet very difficult terrain to explore. 

Now that they had actually started, Stefan felt more relaxed again. He hadn't wanted to actually take the step off, but now he had, he was glad he did. "How long until automatic rendezvous?" Lauren asked. "I forgot to note the time when they started."

Noctis checked her own watch. She was the only one of the three who had paid attention to the actual times. "In about three and a half hours if we were going off of start time. Half an hour if we're going off of your standard every six hours." Noctis, and then Stefan looked over at Lauren. Lauren was the one who had coded the software. "I mean." Lauren said. "I think it's based off of clock time? I'm not completely sure. But I think so!"

They continued their walking, with Noctis muttering under her breath about "how do you forget what you coded into software?" 

It turned out Lauren's thoughts were correct, and half an hour later, they'd all been moved into the same channel.

"Hi!" Scott said, excited, glad to talk to people again. Scott liked talking to people. and had only been talking to Tommy and Tubbo, who were preferring to talk to each other than to Scott. Scott was sure that the two of them were good enough to be able to manage themselves. "How's everyone going?"

Stefan smiled. "We're doing good, aren't we guys?" he looked at Noctis and Lauren.

Noctis sighed, with a large smile on her face. "I mean, you did ask us to have-" Stefan cut her off before she could finish. "No. No I did not. I know exactly what you're talking about, and you misinterpreted that completely."

Scott laughed at this, as did Lauren and Noctis.

“Callum, Phil?” Scott asked. Despite not being in charge, he had taken a lead in the meeting. 

“We’re good over here.” Callum smiled to Phil, for confirmation. Phil had a red heart-shaped locket-like thing attached to his belt, and was looking into it, at the picture of his wife. Callum hadn’t told Phil his opinions on sacrificing the others if strictly necessary, but he didn’t need to ask to see how much the man loved his wife. 

Phil nodded slightly. “Yep. We’re good.” he said, though his voice seemed distant.

“You sure?” Stefan asked. Phil nodded, which Callum relayed the information, before speaking to Scott. “How are the kids doing?”

The kids in question - Tubbo and Tommy - were acting differently to the other six on the mission at the time. Stefan, Noctis and Lauren had all sat down on one of the many ledges the bore had drilled through. Phil and Callum were standing up, leaning against one of the other ledges. Scott was lying on the floor, grateful to be able to. Tubbo and Tommy were flying around him, leaping from one pile of rocks to another pile of vines. “Is anyone near me?” Scott asked in response. “These two are definitely capable of being fine by themselves. I’m nearly at the sludge area?”

Stefan nodded, humming to himself. “There’s the gps trackers on the communication devices. If you can stay where you are, I can come and join you, be four pairs instead of two threes and a pair.”

“Yes please thank you.” Scott replied almost instantly.

“Does that mean Tommy and I can go on ahead?” Tubbo asked, excited. “Scott kept telling us to stop because apparently we needed breaks.”

“He’s not wrong there.” Lauren chimed in. “Breaks are very important, especially something with as much potential danger as this. But as long as you don’t overdo yourself too much, it should be fine to go as far as you want, as long as you stop at the base camp. Got it? Stop at the base camp.”

“Why though?” Tommy asked. “Why can’t we keep going?”

Noctis spoke, the usual jokey smile gone from her face. “Tommy, Tubbo. Listen to me. This is serious. No more chill  _ oh yeah, flying fun _ times. We’re going somewhere that nobody alive has done before. Only two people have ever been here before, and as far as we know, they’re both dead! And I don’t want any of us to join them! So I’d suggest listening to the people who actually even vaguely know what this place is like!”

Everyone was in shocked silence for a few moments, before Tubbo spoke again. “So wait at the base camps when we get there?” he said, in a much quieter voice. 

Noctis nodded, though neither Tommy nor Tubbo would be able to see her. “Exactly.” she said. “So, in about 6 hours time we’ll all be on coms again. I’d suggest after that meeting we sleep in shifts within each pair - though I guess it’ll be up to each pair. Stef-Noxite will join Scott. You two use channel one maybe? Good luck guys.”

Her voice had gotten back to it’s usual smiley tone by the end. And as the resounding “Good luck!” sounded throughout the voices, everyone smiling again now, though Phil seemed a bit more upset than the others. 

Everyone rejoined their own channels, including both trios. They needed to stay in their individual channels until they met up with each other. 

~

As Callum rejoined channel 4, Phil sunk to the ground. Noctis’ message of frustration at Tommy and Tubbo probably convinced them to follow the rules, but it only reminded Phil of the dangers of this mission.

He and Callum both shared a look. They’d survive. They’d make it back alive. For Kristin. For Mich. For their hopes and dreams. Whatever it takes.

~

“So.” Noctis said, her teasing voice fully back. “Is the only reason you’re being with Scott instead because you-”

“No.” Stefan cut her off again, though there was a hint of a smile in his voice. “Just because I accidentally said a word does not mean that you’re making all these assumptions. I’m joining Scott because we’re a three, Scott very clearly doesn’t want to be with the children anymore, and I’m the one who actually knows him.”

Noctis hummed non-committedly, not even trying to hide the broad smile on her face. “Sure Stefan. No other motives at all.”

Lauren grinned at this, choosing to not say anything, just listen to Noctis and Stefan arguing. Well, it was either arguing, flirting, or some mix of the two. 

“So.” Stefan finally said, cutting off Noctis for the third time in the past fifteen minutes. “Should we continue?” During their flirting/argument they’d both stood up, only Lauren still sitting down. As Noctis nodded, Stefan reached down to help Lauren up. She didn’t particularly need help, but she appreciated the gesture none-the-less. 

Noctis jumped off the ledge, activating her wings mid-jump. Lauren and Stefan followed her. 

It turned out that all three groups must’ve sat around quite a lot, as it only took about fifteen minutes for the trio to get to the waterfall that led to the sludge area that Scott had mentioned. Tubbo and Tommy were nowhere to be seen, but Scott had stood up once the others had arrived.

“There you are!” Scott smiled. “Tommy and Tubbo have gone on ahead, and Callum and Phil passed by here a few minutes ago. I wondered where you guys were!”

“So.” Stefan said. “We switch over to channel one?”

“No!” Noctis said indignantly. “I want channel one. You can have channel two.”

“Fine.” Stefan said. “You two switch to channel one. Scott, can you come into channel two. And then you two can go ahead. I need to speak to Scott.”

Noctis nodded. “Of course you do. We’ll leave you two to do whatever you do.” She said the last line with a smirk. 

As Noctis and Lauren flew off, Scott looked at Stefan. “Why did they say?” he wasn’t sure how to finish the question, leaving the question open-ended. 

Stefan sighed, not sure if he wanted to answer, but ending up answering anyway. “I asked if we were going to do anything to keep ourselves warm when it’s night, because it might get cold, because I was already getting cold. I’m not sure why Noctis thought that was flirting?”

Scott laughed slightly at that. “Nothing else? Just that you were cold?” Stefan nodded. “Well, if being cold means you’re flirting…” he tried to hide his now strong laughter, but failed. “I’ve practically got frostbite”

Stefan raised an eyebrow. “Is that so?” Scott nodded, before looking at the floor. “Can you stop!” Scott protested, hiding the slight smile on his face. “I don’t need to actually have a crush on yet another straight guy!”

“Should we go?” Stefan asked. “I think the others have left.”

“Left in person, yes.” Noctis said over both their headsets with a giggle in her voice. “But we never left this channel!”

Stefan groaned, staring at the floor. “Why would you do that?” 

“Wondered if the feelings were reciprocated!” Noctis’ smile was audible.

As Stefan was wondering why he had agreed to come on this mission in the first place, Lauren and Scott started talking to each other. 

“I liked your analogy.” Lauren said.

“Thank you!” Scott smiled to himself. It had been an in-the-moment decision. Just in case there was a chance. That either the other man would agree with him, or tell him he was being stupid. However, Stefan instead managed to encourage him while also denying him. Basically the worst possible outcome.

“Anyway.” Noctis finally said. “We’ll probably go back to our own channel now.”

The quiet dings that signified moving channels played. Stefan realised that they hadn’t before. He’d just assumed that they’d left. Well now he knew not to trust either of them. 

“So..” Scott sounded slightly more flustered than normal, his normal calm self gone. “We need to think about how to get across here. I don’t know about you, but I don’t plan on getting myself covered in sludge!”

~

“FREEDOM!” Tubbo was screaming at the top of his lungs, as was Tommy. The pair had distanced themselves enough from the others that they felt fine with yelling at the tops of their voices. Tubbo was extremely excited - probably more excited than he should be - about being able to keep flying without his brother keeping watch and telling him to be calmer, and not using up all of his energy. 

Tubbo and Tommy were flying around, not really progressing but enjoying themselves. The duo were so far ahead - or so they thought - that they could practice things like loops, flying upside down, diving and taking a sharp turn upwards. There was abandoned equipment scattered everywhere. Some still containing resources taken from the interior of the planet.

Tubbo noticed that these seemed a bit weird. The lady who’d warned him about safety said that only two people had been through these tunnels before. But this seemed like an operation larger than simply two people. Tubbo put it out of his mind, as he tried to grab pieces of rock out of these vehicles - to throw at Tommy - while flying past them. 

However, instead of it hitting Tommy, the small bit of rock - practically a pebble - hit Callum’s arm. 

The duo thought they were far ahead of everyone else, but it wasn’t by long enough to not let anyone catch up to them - especially if they weren’t actually continuing through the tunnel.

“What is this?” Callum wondered aloud. “I thought that the previous mission was two people. This feels near industrial.”

The trains, cranes, lorries, tractor-like vehicles, vehicles Callum couldn’t even name. Some on their sides, some in ruin. Others seemed in near-perfect if not perfect condition. He swore under his breath. There was no way this was what it looked like.

Callum - having lost all focus on anyone around him - climbed up to one of the trains that looked in perfect condition. It seemed new. Definitely not 30 years old. 

It was probably something different, he reasoned with himself. Some different mission. Something that Noctis hadn’t heard about. He got down, back to Phil, Tommy, and Tubbo. None of the three seemed to understand the implications as much as he did. Either something was happening under everyone’s nose, or the people who they were meant to trust were lying to them.

Callum didn’t realise how much time he’d spent staring at the train, until he heard the already-familiar click that signified them switching into the every-six-hours meeting. 

Stefan spoke first. “Is there any way to turn a microphone off?” he asked. “Like if someone is going to the toilet or..” he looked to his left. “snoring?”

Lauren laughed. “It does it automatically when people are asleep. But yes, there is a mute button. It’s on the other side to the dial. Is there a reason?”

Stefan sighed again. “Yes.” when nobody else spoke, he elaborated. “Apparently Scott doesn’t sleep the night before races, so seems to be very tired.” 

Callum spoke for the first time in potentially hours. “He does that. I think it’s a mixture of stress and adrenaline? I honestly want to go to sleep myself honestly.” 

“It’s only midnight!” Tommy complained. “Why would you want to go to sleep already?”

Most people seemed to ignore Tommy’s addition, choosing to discuss what the future plans would be. 

Callum left the channel, deciding that Scott very clearly didn’t have to listen to them, so he didn’t want to either. Phil would be able to deal with anything that happened. Then he laid down, pulling out his sleeping bag and floor mat. He felt a lot less safe than he did a few hours ago, but he tried to shove it out of his mind. Phil would look after him. He was sure of that, at least. It’d all be okay in the end. Right?

  
  



	5. The Tables Turn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TSF tunnel 1 continues! But some things are a bit... odd...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was originally going to be called the Turn Tables, but then I decided I should maybe go for the non-meme way of writing it. Also, two moments are actually based off of real (very funny) moments! They're in end notes.

Scott and Stefan had both fallen asleep. Scott had practically passed out after doing so much and being awake for over 50 hours straight. Stefan assumed things would probably be fine, not seeing any reason to doubt what he thought he knew. But when Stefan fell asleep, he and Scott were a few metres away from each other.

That wasn’t the case once Stefan woke up. He wasn’t sure if Scott had moved closer to him on purpose, or it was just asleep people being asleep people. But, as he’d realised the previous day, it really was cold, so he appreciated it. 

Stefan had been woken up by the six-hour alarm of joining the general chat. “Hi gang,” he said, half asleep, wondering who else was awake.

“Hello!” Tommy replied. “I’m glad  _ someone _ else is awake!” he sounded frustrated. “I’ve been awake for about an hour, and none of the other three here are awake yet!”

“We’re both awake.” Lauren said, with a smile. “Noctis doesn’t want to be, but is.”

“Hi.” Noctis added, sounding even more asleep than Stefan did. “Everyone cool? Yes. Bye.” 

Noctis left the channel again, going back to channel one. Lauren left not long after, leaving Stefan and Tommy as the only two in the channel. 

“So are Callum and Phil with you and Tubbo?” Stefan asked him, noticing he’d said the other  _ three _ were still asleep. Tommy nodded. “Yeah. Tubbo and I were enjoying ourselves, Callum and Phil caught up to us; we spent a few hours messing about, while Phil was looking at some weird locket thing, and Callum was staring at a train. And then we ate some things, Callum took first watch, I woke up randomly so took over!”

Stefan looked in his bag. Tommy had reminded him. “Oh yeah.” He said, not realising he was speaking out loud. “Food.”

“Have you and Scott not eaten anything yet?” Tommy asked. “Isn’t the point of bringing food so that we can eat it?”

Noxite shook his head. “No. Scott ended up falling asleep almost instantly, and I completely forgot we’d even brought food with us.”

He pulled out a snack bar from his bag, and started chewing on it. “Thanks for the reminder.” He said, though his voice was muffled from the food in his mouth. Tommy laughed at him, before realising he was hungry as well. 

Phil had mistakenly left his bag open, and on the floor, so Tommy rummaged around in it, pulling out a chocolate bar. But as he did so, he noticed a photo in a frame. 

“Noxite?” Tommy asked. “Why is there a woman in a photo frame, and why didn’t you give me one?”

Stefan was confused. “Why didn’t I give you a photo frame?”

“Why didn’t you give me a woman. Is it because I’m a child?” He caught himself extremely quickly. “Because that’s wrong. I’m not a child. I’m a Big Man. Do Callum and you and Scott also have women in photo frames?”

Stefan had worked out what was going on by this point. It took him longer than it normally would, but he blamed that on the tiredness. 

“Phil’s married.” He said. “That’s a photo of his wife. Put it back.” 

Tommy was reluctant, but listened to the older man. “So?” He asked. “Do you and Callum and Scott also have wives in photo frames?”

Stefan found that funner than he should’ve. “I think Callum has one of his girlfriend, I should have a girlfriend, but I don’t; and Scott is also single, but also gay.”

Dots connected in Tommy’s brain. “Is that why he told us that he was with us because he needed to make sure we can fly, and also because the only other single man was straight?”

“Yes.” Stefan replied. “Though given how close he decided to sleep to me, I’m not sure if he remembers that.”

“I did remember that.” A very tired voice said from beside Stefan. “But it was cold, and you were the one who denied being cold as flirting.” Scott sat up. “Do we have any coffee?” He asked. “I need to be woken up.”

It turned out that most people had had about six and a half hours worth of sleep before they woke up. Though they would have probably slept for longer if Stefan and Tommy had continued talking quietly. But that didn’t happen, and they both ended up being loud enough to wake others up. 

Fewer than five minutes after Scott woke up - though he now had a coffee and was sipping it to try and warm himself up, and wake himself up - Tubbo joined them. 

Tubbo was the only one of the four who seemed properly awake. Even Tommy sounded slightly tired. “Morning guys!” He said with a smile on his face. “Morning Tommy! Morning Scott! Morning Noxite!”

Stefan wasn’t sure why he decided to tell Callum, Phil, Tommy and Tubbo that his name was Noxite. It did make sense from a technical standpoint. Practically nobody called him Stefan. Even some of the friends he’d had for years knew him only as Noxite. 

Outside of his family, only four other people knew him as Stefan. Scott, Lauren, Noctis, and Sasha. 

He wished Sasha had come with them. And not only because he fancied her. Nearly everyone in their department fancied Sasha, some of the women included. 

Stefan’s mind was taken away from Sasha when Tubbo had asked him a question. 

“Sorry.” Stefan said. “I didn’t catch that, could you repeat it?”

Tubbo sighed slightly, before repeating his previous question. “What’s my brother like?” 

“He’s cool.” Stefan replied. “Really good at flying too.”

Scott had wandered away, but came back. He was eating a banana, but managed to make his question obvious at the same time. “Once I’ve had this, should we go?”

Stefan nodded. “Nice talking to you guys! Hopefully we’ll get to base camp today!”

With that, he and Scott disconnected from the channel, and rejoined channel two. 

Stefan packed up his bag, and put it back on his back, before standing up to join Scott, and reactivating his wingsuit. 

The duo were still stood on top of a weirdly large and stable lilypad in the sludge section. They did a few more lilypad jumps before they had made it to where Tommy, Tubbo, Callum and Phil were. Noctis and Lauren must’ve gone past them, because they didn’t remember seeing them, but they were between the groups. 

And also it turned out there wasn’t much distance between groups. Tommy and Tubbo were eating snacks. Chocolate that was likely stolen from Callum and Phil. 

“Scott!” Tubbo said, excited to see his brother again. “Hello!”

Scott returned the hello, hugging Tubbo with a smile. 

After they’d stopped hugging each other, Scott turned back to Stefan. 

“That’s what Callum did yesterday!” Tommy commented as Stefan stared at one of the trains. 

“That almost looks too new..” Stefan said, a confused look on his face. “Definitely newer than 30 years.”

Scott tried to piece together the logic. “These wingsuits seem futuristic! Maybe GDL are just good at making things that would come up in the future?”

Stefan nodded. He didn’t fully agree with Scott, but the man was correct that that was the only explanation that would make sense. 

“That though.” Scott said - he had gone on further, and was now only speaking through Stefan’s headset. “That I don’t understand.”

Past all the weird present-looking technology, the tunnel opened up into a cavern. Stefan flew forward, nearly falling over himself to slow down enough to stand beside Scott. 

They both looked on in shock. The cavern was filled with giant mushrooms, larger than even the largest trees either one had seen. It looked like nothing they’d ever seen. Some looked tens of times larger than them.

“Oh. My. God.” Stefan said under his breath. “Scott, something definitely feels odd. I thought this would be just a borehole, not some kind of weird other world.”

“I’m so glad we agreed to pairs.” Scott replied. “Some people - me included - wanted to go on our own. But this is getting so weird. Honestly I’d suggest we go in fours after the base camp, but I don’t think anyone else would want to.”

Stefan nodded. Neither of them seemed to sound normal, frozen in place by what they saw before them. “I think sleep shifts might be the only thing to do going forward.” Stefan said slowly. “I don't think things are the way they're meant to be. We need to be very cautious here. Don’t rush into anything.” 

“Should we do the emergency call?” Scott asked, sounding more scared than his usual confident self. “I don’t know where Lauren and Noctis are, and people need to be careful. Things don’t seem right.”

Stefan nodded again. He’d been doing that a lot recently. “I’ll call it.” he said, pulling everyone into the same channel.

“Why’s this?” Callum asked. He’d obviously woken up. “Tubbo told me the six-hour meeting happened when I was asleep, and it hasn’t been anywhere near 12 hours since I went to sleep.”

“Emergency meeting.” Stefan said. The others stopped their background chatter, and seemed confused, and slightly concerned, but let him and Scott talk. “Something weird is going on.” Stefan continued. “And the communication back to base camp is broken. I don’t know what’s going on, but I need everyone to be extremely cautious. No more sleeping together.” 

Noctis laughed. “I think you’d be the only one wanting to do that” she said under her breath, as Stefan continued.

“Things like shifts become even more important.”

Scott sat down, legs dangling into the chasm, before speaking. “I’d suggest we group into two fours. That way people can get more sleep, and more eyes on each other.”

“Is the weird thing the trains?” Callum asked. Tubbo and Tommy sighed practically simultaneously, but Callum continued. “It seems way too modern! There’s no way that that train is 30 years old!”

Stefan confirmed that the train was indeed part of it. “But that’s not even the cause for this meeting. Present seeming technology can be explained away, but not this.”

“What is  _ this _ ?” Lauren asked.

“Did you pass us?” Phil interjected. “We didn’t see you two. Noctis and Lauren.”

Lauren sighed. “Nope. We went a different way, just coming out of the sludgey area into the place with these old vehicles thing.”

“We’ll wait.” Scott said quietly, having stared down and seeing quite how deep and large the cavern - and the mushrooms were. “You need to see it for yourself.”

Over the next hour, everyone came to the cavern entrance, and most felt a similar sense of awe and fear. 

Lauren and Noctis were the last to arrive. “Whoa.” Lauren had whispered under her breath, while Noctis joked about it being “almost the size of Stefan’s ego”

They had decided to cross in pairs, though they would try to stick in fours from that point onwards. These pairs were in the fours, but different pairs to previously. Crossing this chasm wasn’t for fun, it was for necessity. Callum and Tubbo. Phil and Tommy. Scott and Noctis. Stefan and Lauren. 

Callum and Tubbo went first. Tubbo asking Callum about what being a professional wingsuit user was like (Scott wouldn’t tell him all the things he wanted to know) Callum unfortunately didn’t tell him either, instead telling him to pay attention on flying. 

Once they were safely across, it was Scott and Noctis’ turn. Noctis had a very different line of questioning to Tubbo. “So,” she smirked. “What’s Stefan like?”

“He’s very fast.” Scott replied, somehow managing to hold a straight face. “It’s very enjoyable.”

“You mean?” Noctis had a smirk on her face, and Scott didn’t manage to hold his for much longer, as he lightly shoved her. “Stop taking it so dirty-mindedly! I didn’t mean it like that!” Despite what Scott said, it was very clear that he did mean it to be interpreted that way, as the glint in his eyes revealed. “He’s got used to the wingsuits quickly, is a natural, and it’s a lot more fun to fly with someone who isn’t just mucking around like Tubbo and Tommy do!”

They also got to the other side, though it took a bit longer, as they weren’t taking it as seriously.

Lauren and Stefan didn’t really talk. They were both too in shock about what was going on to have their normal friendly banter.

Once they had both made it across safely, Tommy and Phil followed. “Can I have a wife Phil?” Tommy asked. “Noxite said you had a wife, and I want one. How.”

Phil smiled to himself. “Well Tommy, the first step is to find a girl who wants to date you-” Tommy cut him off. “Now Phil.”

“Well.” Phil said. “Given how there are only two women here, and both of them are a lot older than you, and also not attracted to you, you’ll have to wait until we get back to the surface. Once we’re back, you’ll be famous, so getting a wife might be easier?” Phil was just trying to think of something to convince Tommy, he didn’t really believe it’d ever be  _ easy _ to find a wife.

But with Tommy still thinking of very strange questions like can he name her - Phil thought it’d be smarter for him to get a pet than a wife - they landed back at the group.

It was another thing that didn’t really seem to make sense. Large stone stalactite/stalagmite-like-things crossing over each other. A lake-like pool of water beneath these stone spikes. A strange flat structure, possibly the base of some now-destroyed giant spike.

But as strange as it was, the flat structure was the perfect standpoint to see the first base camp! From what they’d heard, the base camps had more supplies - not that they needed them - comfortable beds, and just a place of rest before they started down the next tunnel.

From what they’d heard - not that they 100% trusted it anymore - the tunnel to the first base camp was the shortest, taking only about a day or two, the second tunnel was about twice as long, and the third tunnel - well, it was longer than the second tunnel, but nobody was quite sure how long it actually was. Or what was at the end. 

They decided a short bit of competition would be fun, with them all lining up on the flat rock, ready to race to the base camp. 

“Three!” Scott yelled. “Two!” Callum and Phil joined in, grinning at each other, remembering the previous day’s race. “One!” Tommy and Tubbo remembered how the countdown went, and yelled the final number with the professionals. “Go!” Everyone yelled together, their voices distorted by the wind as they jumped off of the rock, towards the base camp.

Scott took the lead, then Phil, and then Scott again, and then - as they nearly reached the line - Callum pulled out in front. 

Callum finished first, before crashing into the trampoline-like target pad. It wasn’t on purpose, but he didn’t decellerate fast enough. Scott came in a close second, swerving out of the way of the pad, flying behind it, and landing on the platform beneath it. Phil did much the same thing as Callum, also crashing into the pad.

After Phil was Tubbo, then Stefan, then Noctis, then Tommy, and then finally Lauren.

Somehow, they all ended up in a heap, but they were all smiling so it wasn’t anything for any of them to get angry about. 

They had made it a third of the way - by one definition - and they were all still alive and well. That was good, as weird as everything else was, at least they were all still alive.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some of the conversations people have were based on actual conversations!
> 
> Scott making innuendos and stuff: A solid 15-20 minutes of one of his streams: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/872086570 starting at 03:23:39 (https://www.twitch.tv/smajor1995/clip/ScrumptiousArtisticClintmullinsCmonBruh (yes twitch clip names are too long) as an example/if the vod is gone)
> 
> Tommy asking Phil how to get married: It was part of his video, which links to the right timestamp: https://youtu.be/8PZyzjpVFhg?t=193


	6. The Drill Project

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first flashback into the past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes it's very short.

Dr Mrs Sir Alan Columbus had been trying to develop wings, but he had come to the conclusion that there was simply no way to create flying technology, it would just be a dream. 

So he set his team on a new project. What if he could be the one to revolutionise energy. Save humanity. Tap into a previously untapped power. The core of the Earth itself.

Sure, it could cause a few issues. But they’d likely be after he died and he didn’t need to worry about that. He didn’t care about what happened to the world after he died, he just wanted to be seen as a hero while he was alive.

For his new mission to have maximum impact, the company rebranding. Geo Descent Labs was the perfect new name. Descending within the Earth itself. 

“Minnowski. Barney.” Dr Columbus yelled at the two scientists standing near to him. “You are the chosen ones. The three of us shall be the ones revered as savours! The ones who fix everything! The ones who make things right! The ones who fix the energy crisis, global warming! All gone.”

Dr Columbus was making gestures with his hands that reminded Minnowski of a cartoon villain, but he nodded in agreement. 

“We know other people! Let’s get some engineer people here too! I want a drill, a really big drill! A drill big enough for you two to both fit comfortably in. Drill right to the centre of the Earth!”

Dr Columbus stopped talking aloud, realising that his full plan would be far less likely to be accepted by the two other scientists. 

“So,” he grinned. “You down to go down in history?” There was laughter in his eyes. He made a strange face that neither of the two recognised, but they nodded.

_ Step One: Convince the scientists to take part in my plan _ . Dr Columbus crossed the first step off his notepad, before continuing to write down more steps.  _ Step Two: Construct the drill. Step Three: Send scientists (via drill) to the centre of the Earth _ .

Dr Columbus strode out of the office, heading to the room where all the technical scientists worked.

~

The Drill Project was nearly finished. The drill had been built, supplies filled; and the scientists ready. Dr Columbus was overseeing the final construction of the borehole, ready to begin drilling. He pulled out his notebook again, writing some more things down. He crossed step two and three off, and wrote two more things.  _ Step Four: In case of “emergency scenario”, follow protocol 7. Step Five: Wait. _

Dr Columbus was glad that he had used codes in his notes, as he was certain that his subordinates would disagree with the...ethics of what he had planned. But Dr Columbus didn’t care about ethics, he cared about power for him, and the hope of a future for his daughter.


	7. A wake up call

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stefan finds out something worrying.

“Morning” Tubbo yelled at the top of his lungs, waking everyone up. Lauren had overridden the meeting in hopes that they could get some rest at the base camp. But any hope they had of rest was destroyed by Tubbo’s excited yelling.

“Morning Tubbo.” Callum said, trying to open his eyes. “How are you?” Phil yawned, speaking as well “Why is there a child in my room?” 

Callum finally opened his eyes. “There isn’t.” he said to Phil. Tubbo in fact wasn’t in their room, but in the corridor between the rooms, yelling at everyone.

Callum stood up, and opened the door, planning on asking Tubbo to please just be quiet. 

Lauren and Noctis were obviously already awake before Tubbo, with Lauren getting Noctis to do warm up stretches with her - something that Lauren liked telling people to do. Tommy was also jumping around with Tubbo. Phil had also stood up and left the room with Callum. 

Neither Scott nor Stefan seemed to be awake yet, or if they were they were being very quiet and hadn’t left their room yet. 

“Morning Tubbo” Callum repeated, now that he was actually in a place where Tubbo could hear him. “You know if Scott and Noxite are awake yet?”

Tubbo stopped, shook his head and shrugged slightly, before continuing jumping between rocks. “No idea!” he called out in response. 

Scott wasn’t asleep, but lying in bed still. Stefan was also awake, and looking through some papers he found. It was some kind of journal thing he had found on the floor. He wasn’t sure what it was, but it was labelled  **_Terra Swoop Force Mission_ ** . And given the Terra Swoop Force was kind of his project, and nobody else seemed to want the journal, he took it. 

“Stefan.” Scott looked up, sounding tired. “What’re you looking at?”

Stefan closed the journal, shoving it back into his bag. “Scott! You’re awake!” he paused, registering the question. “It’s not important, just a thing I found. I’ll talk later.”

Scott sat up, looking at Stefan in confusion. He wasn’t sure what Stefan meant, but he trusted the other man, so decided to not push the question any further. He was certain that Stefan would tell him once it became important.

As they sat in comfortable silence, it was broken by screaming in the background. It didn’t sound like screaming that was in trouble, but it was loud. “Do they know we’re awake?” Scott asked, rubbing his eyes, and sitting up.

“Don’t think so.” Stefan replied. “But Tubbo was yelling - saying good morning - earlier.” Scott nodded at him. “That’s what woke me up. This happens whenever I am in the same house as him. Tubbo’s very loud. And wakes up very early.”

Scott slid out of the bed, and stood up. Stefan also stood up from the chair where he was sitting, and they both pulled their bags on again. 

Stefan opened their door and stepped out, Scott following him. “Scott!” Callum smiled at him. “Hi!” Scott smiled back, and Tubbo turned round, trying to get further away from the door for some reason. “Everyone’s awake now! Can we go now? I want to see things! There’s more of the weird technology things!” 

Everyone looked at Tubbo, wondering what weird technology things he was talking about. They got some more supplies and headed to the second drop zone. “So?” Stefan said. “Groups of fours or do we stick pairs?”

Noctis squinted slightly. “Well, I know that  _ someone _ would prefer to stick pairs.”

Stefan sighed. “Actually, I want us to be in fours. For safety reasons! I don’t think things are as they seem.”

Noctis laughed at him. “I never said that  _ you _ were the one who would prefer to stick to pairs. Anything you need to tell us about?”

Tubbo, not seeming to fully understand - or pretending he didn’t - Noctis’ joking, deciding to treat the question like it was an actual question. “I’d prefer to stick to pairs. Tommy and I’re doing fine!”

“Fine.” Scott said. “We stay in pairs for  _ this _ tunnel, and then we group together for the next one. “Anyone want to change groups, or do we stick to the same pairs?”

“I think we’re good!” Lauren smiled, with Noctis adding on “Lauren’s the only person who I get to mock you with!” aimed entirely at Stefan. “Can’t let your ego get too big now, can we?”

“Ok.” Stefan said, as they looked down into the second drop zone. “Why is this like this?” There were even more rail cars, and it seemed even more technically advanced then the previous technology.

Tubbo and Tommy had left before Stefan had even finished speaking, neither particularly cared about what Stefan was saying, and neither  **properly** seemed to understand the implications of things not being what they had been told. 

Noctis and Lauren went next. They were very closely followed by Callum and Phil. 

Scott and Stefan - as the ones who knew the most about the fact something was wrong - didn’t want to rush into the tunnel. Instead Stefan took the bag off his back again. “I didn’t want to risk any of the others knowing.” he said quietly. “The communication back to headquarters from this base camp has broken. I have no way of knowing if it’s deliberate, but I’m scared of the worst, because of this.” 

He pulled the journal he found out of his bag, opening it to the third page - the first legible one, and he began reading it to Scott. “Step Six.” he said quietly. “Once we think it is time, send the group down. This will ensure that everything has been taken care of. The same thing that should have taken care of the first two will make sure that they  **d** ” he stopped, looking straight into Scott’s eyes. “The rest of the page is gone too. This journal’s in ruins, and it scares me. I don’t want to be responsible for leading everyone to their deaths!”

He leaned forward, accepting Scott’s embrace. “Something is definitely wrong.” Scott whispered. “But we’ll have the upper hand.” he held Stefan’s hand in his. “They won’t expect us to be wary. And besides, you’re  _ Stefan _ ! You can’t die that easily!” 

Scott - still holding Stefan’s hand - jumped off the platform, landing on what seemed to be tracks of some kind. The tracks headed down, past various vehicles of different types. Some still moving ever so slightly, and others appeared to be smoking. 

Strange lit-up pipes crossed across the ceiling, strange purples and pink fluids. Some things seemed almost robotic. There was also some kind of hot red sludge - it kind of looked like lava or magma, but nowhere near the temperature - in tubes and side crates. The pair continued on, looking at the strange technology. 

There was a strange wall. It seemed to be made out of some kind of stone, with iron bars across the top. Lauren, Noctis, and Tubbo were sitting on it, and Scott approached them, asking about Tommy.

“Up there.” Tubbo pointed. Tommy was fiddling with some mechanical thing, wondering what it was. It turned out that he had nearly finished his investigation, and returned to sit on the wall with the others.

“Nothing interesting.” Tommy told them as he sat down. 

“Nothing interesting?” Noctis asked, shocked. “Have you seen what we’re all looking at?”

In front of them, the cave widened. It went from an industrial-like tunnel, to some kind of ancient fantasy jungle. 

There were vines and leaves on every surface, with rocks jutting out from the ground, small trees, large trees, lakes covered in lily pads, and waterfalls all over the place. It didn’t feel like a cave system, it didn’t even properly feel like Earth. It seemed more like some kind of alien planet. They could hear a helicopter somewhere, or something that sounded a lot like it. 

A large rock obstructed most of their views into the cave system, and while they could have radioed Callum and Phil, it made more sense to just fly up to the large rock and look properly at it by themselves instead. Scott did message Phil, asking him and Callum to not fly too far ahead, though he had no way of knowing if they saw - or cared - about it.

From their vantage point on the rock, they could see that the cave opened up even further. It seemed even bigger than the mushroom cave they had found earlier. But unlike the mushroom cave, this cave had movement in it. Sounds of life, something like birds flying around their heads. The closest thing Stefan could compare these animals he saw - in the water, in the trees, on the ground, in the sky - was dinosaurs. Or aliens. Dinosaurs mutated with aliens? But they hadn’t attacked yet, so he could hope that they weren’t hostile. Or at least if they were, then they weren’t seen as a threat.

He was about to call another emergency meeting, to see if Callum and Phil were okay, but they had already been pulled into a six-hourly one.

“So.” Callum said. “Mind telling us what’s really going on, Noxite?” 

Stefan seemed confused by this. “What do you mean, what’s really going on?”

“Dinosaurs.” Phil said. “There’s a cave full of dinosaurs. A giant cave full of dinosaurs.”

“Angry dinosaurs.” Callum added. “We’re in a cave behind a giant waterfall, these things tried to eat us out of the sky! Dinosaurs are meant to be extinct.” his voice changed, from anger to a calmer but slightly scared tone. “This is your mission Noxite, you’re meant to know what’s going on, and what you did earlier, it kind of feels like you’re hiding things. With the journal?”

“How do you know about-” Stefan’s voice sounded angry, and in disbelief at once. He and Scott looked at each other.

Tubbo raised his hand quietly, and with a slightly guilty tone to his voice. “There was a hole in your door. Tommy and I wanted to know what you were up to. You were telling Scott that there was something not important, but acting like it was, and you’d tell him later.”

“That’s why you were backing away from the door?” Scott was shocked. “Tubbo, that’s a massive invasion of privacy. You don’t just spy on people through a door! Anything could have been happening.”

“You could have been kissing!” Tommy said, sounding slightly proud that he knew something that could have been happening. “Or worse.” he added as an afterthought.

“Or worse!” Noctis stared at Stefan, a grin on her face, raising an eyebrow. “Even  _ Tommy _ can tell something’s going on.” 

Stefan looked at his feet again. He didn’t want to keep secrets from his friends, from his colleagues, but he knew that he didn’t know everything yet - he hadn’t been able to read the journal fully yet. And he knew that a half-story would be worse than not knowing. People could be reckless, people could do something absolutely stupid. People would do something absolutely stupid. If they thought following the mission would lead to their deaths, they wouldn’t follow the mission. But they needed to follow the mission. It was very important that they followed the mission. If they didn’t follow the mission, things would potentially end up even worse than if they followed the mission. So he needed to lie. 

“I said it wasn’t important, didn’t I?” Tubbo nodded in conformation. “It’s not important! Yes things may not be exactly as we thought it was, we will all be fine. I promise.” It was obvious how empty his promise was, but he hoped that they didn’t see through it. There was no way he’d promise safety and it would be true. Not with how strangely everything was going. The mushrooms. The dinosaurs. The technology. 

  
Not even if he didn’t know about the journal. The journal that when he re-read it, he’d found the name  _ Alan _ .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's just say the last chapter was important, and I'd recommend checking the tags as well!


	8. A Fractured Hope

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think we're getting daily updates at the moment. I'm just really enjoying writing this!

They had ended up leaving the group meeting. Callum and Phil deciding to wait until nightfall - even the dinosaur-like creatures would need to sleep, right? Noctis, Lauren, Tommy and Tubbo had decided to be a four, with Noctis laughing about Tubbo questioning her on if his brother and Stefan  _ really were dating _ . (Officially no, but Noctis was certain that  _ something _ was going on between them.) Tommy had decided to try to teach Lauren swear words, even though she wasn’t particularly paying attention to him, and talking to Tubbo and Noctis as well.

Stefan decided to wait for them to leave, before talking to Scott. “What is it?” he asked. “Between us? I’m not even sure what it is, let alone with Noctis saying we’re dating.”

Scott laughed slightly, though Stefan could tell that he was sad inside. “No Stefan, we’re not dating. Not unless you want us to be.”

With that cleared up, Stefan reopened the journal. He thought he might be getting paranoid by it, but on the off chance that something did go wrong, he wanted any warning he could have. And if that meant scouring a journal that was nearly as old if not older as the entire drill project, he would. 

Scott leaned on Stefan’s shoulder, reading the journal over his shoulder. “Stefan.” he said quietly. “Let’s just keep going. We can sort this later.” 

The two stood up, Stefan putting the journal back into his bag. “Okay.” he said quietly, “Just chill until we get to the base camp. I can do this.” 

Scott decided to change the topic of conversation to something else, and they started chatting as they flew through this section, lucky enough to not be attacked.

~

While the other people flew above them, Phil and Callum were on the ground. Phil had convinced Callum to come out of the cave, and he was glad he had done so. He didn’t want himself or Callum to be left behind. Phil wasn’t sure why Callum had agreed to come on the mission. They were both in relationships - Phil for even longer than Callum - but Phil didn’t talk about Kristin all the time, as much as he wanted to. Because this was a mission. This was important.

They waded through the boggy ground, Phil leading the way. “Was the thing about Noxite’s journal thing accurate?” Phil asked. “Because he seemed to think we knew something. Apparently it meant more than it should’ve? He was too defensive.”

Callum shook his head. “Tubbo was telling Noctis about what they were doing. The two of them seemed to have made it their mission to work out if Scott’s dating Noxite now? I just thought it’d be a good thing to bring up, given how much he seems to be hiding from us now.” 

Phil couldn’t argue with this, as he agreed. All eight members of the Terra Swoop Force had noticed things weren’t as they should be, but Phil and Callum were the only two who seemed to have noticed that Stefan himself hadn’t been telling them everything, meaning that he could be at least partially responsible for these strange events. 

~

Noctis, Lauren, Tommy, and Tubbo were still a four, despite Tommy and Tubbo being the ones who didn’t want to be in fours for this tunnel. Noctis and Tubbo were still comparing Stefan and Scott to each other, with Noctis enjoying making fun of Stefan, and Tubbo being excited that his brother might’ve finally got a boyfriend. Tommy joined in with their conversation as and when he thought of something - usually involving swearing - to add to it. 

But no matter what their topics of conversation were, they managed to cross the strange jungle-like place first. As they landed, they ducked under the large overhanging mushroom. They were so used to the weirdness by this point that they didn’t care anymore. “Is that some kind of skeleton?” Tubbo asked, confused. “It looks gigantic!”

The four of them walked forward, through the gigantic bone-like mouth-like thing. The  _ thing _ they were in resembled some kind of skeleton, but they didn’t know of any creature that size. 

Tommy turned to Noctis, finally finding a break in the conversation where he could ask his favourite questions. “Noctis?” he asked. She smiled in slight confusion, but turned to him. “You’re a woman, right?”

“Yes?” Noctis replied, wondering why he cared.

“How do I get a wife. I want one,”

“Well.” Noctis was bemused by this question. She was not the sort of person you talked to about romantic things, unless there was a chance for her to make fun of one of her friends from it. “The first step is to find a girl who wants to marry you, which you have to be on the surface to do. So once we go back to the surface, you need to find a girl to date, and then if you both love each other very much, and are ready for commitment, you can get married.” 

Tommy sighed. “That’s what everyone else has said as well! But it feels like too much effort. I just want a wife  _ now _ .”

“Wives aren’t something you just get!” Noctis replied indignantly, before Tommy stopped talking to her. 

~

Callum and Phil had only just made their way out of the jungle section when the next six-hour meeting was called. Callum sighed. “Hello again.” he said, slightly grumpily. “Got any more information that you don’t plan on telling us?”

“You ok Callum?” Scott asked, concerned. 

“No.” Callum replied. “Been walking through water and water and water and mud. For the past. Six. Hours. I. Hate. Water. Now.”

Callum and Phil were looking up at a waterfall. Neither of them wanting to try to swim up it, or climb up the rocks. 

Instead, they decided to try to use their wingsuits to fly up the steep cliff face. 

Once they landed at the top, they saw the others standing inside the skeleton. The eight of them had been reunited again. “What is this?” Phil had asked, confused by why they were standing still.

“I have no idea.” Scott replied. “It looks like some kind of  _ thing _ , some kind of skeleton. We were waiting for you guys so we can sleep all together before we continue.” Scott checked his watch, it was beginning to get quite late. 

Nothing eventful happened during the night, with Scott taking the first night shift, Callum the second, and Noctis the third. 

Once everyone was awake, they ate some food, packed up the sleeping bags, and everything. They stood up, ready to go.

With that, they started moving forward again. Despite the initial idea to stay in pairs, they were travelling as an eight again. 

The skeleton began to meld with the cave itself, with vines and leaves, and some mushrooms beginning to appear within the walls. 

“It’s really starting to get cold.” Stefan muttered under his breath, the words leaving his mouth with a visible smoke-like breath. Noctis was about to make a joke about this, but she opened her mouth to see the similar visible breath. It really was getting cold. 

“Why’s there ice?” Callum asked, looking ahead through the gaps in the skeletal structure. “Isn’t the centre of the Earth meant to be hot?” 

But despite what the centre of the Earth was meant to look like, it was indeed an icy cave that they emerged into.

“This isn’t even the weirdest thing I’ve seen today,” Lauren whispered slightly, but more out of shock than secrecy. “At this point it feels like some alien planet rather than the centre of the Earth.”

As they progressed through the icy caves, they weren’t sure what to do. Tommy, Tubbo, Scott, and Lauren had ended up having a snowball fight, grabbing bits of snow off the floor, and chucking them at each other. Callum, Phil, and Noctis had ended up discussing random things from the surface - with Callum especially having the most fun he’d had so far on the journey. 

The journey through the icy caves lasted the best part of a day. Everyone was enjoying themselves, and for the first time in a while, nothing imminently seemed to be attacking them. Stefan had found something embedded in a wall, so was investigating what it was, with Scott sitting down on the floor talking to him while he did so. Lauren was lying down, simultaneously resting and making snow angels. Noctis, Tommy and Tubbo were having a snowman building contest, with Noctis instead building a snow spider because “ _ Halloween is better anyway _ ”. Callum and Phil had decided that the pace everyone else was taking it was too easy, while also not wanting to leave the group; so had constructed their own makeshift course.

Around one shard of frost, across another, through a narrow gap, flying upside down. They were enjoying the adrenaline, and fun that racing gave them, and halfway through the second lap, Scott joined them. 

It reminded them of the races they’d done in the past, before the newer safety regulations had been added. Incredibly dangerous, but incredibly fun. And no matter what they did, it would only realistically give them minor injuries at worst, and they had plenty of first aid kits, so would be fine. 

About twenty laps into it - it changed a decent amount, and nobody was counting so they weren’t completely sure how many - Tubbo decided to join in. Tommy, Lauren and Noctis were also asked if they wanted to join in, but Tommy didn’t want to, because he was busy building himself a wife out of snow, and Lauren and Noctis also declined for various reasons; though they both thought it was too dangerous, they didn’t want to outright say that.

~

Stefan hadn’t been asked to join. Scott had planned on asking, but couldn’t see him. He had made his way inside the strange yellow structure embedded in the wall, and was pleased to find it was in fact warmer. He wasn’t sure what the metal was beneath his feet, but he could tell it was metal, so knew it was not something that was going to eat them. It looked sort of like a ship, or a submarine; though what a submarine was doing this far into the centre of the Earth? He had no clue about that. 

When the four racers eventually stopped, it was nearly time to eat some dinner, and go to bed again. And when they complained about the cold, Stefan gladly showed the other seven members of the Terra Swoop Force his discovery. 

That night, none of the four racers wanted to stay up, so Stefan and Noctis took the first watch, Lauren and Tommy the second. 

The other six people had fallen asleep, leaving Stefan and Noctis the only two awake.

“What is actually happening?” Noctis asked, her normal teasing voice replaced with a genuine one. “All I know is that you two are really good friends, and since you’ve been together here, you’ve been spending every night curled up with each other.”

Stefan paused, looking down, not wanting to make eye contact. “Honestly, I don’t know. It definitely started as just a survival thing.” he shrugged. “Noctis, I don’t know anything about anything anymore.” 

Noctis decided to change the conversation, and it wasn’t much longer before they switched over, and both fell asleep. 

The next day, once nearly everyone had woken up, they decided it was probably time to leave the ice section, and continue onwards; but neither Scott, Lauren, nor Stefan were in the submarine anymore. Tommy - the person who was meant to be on lookout with Lauren - was fast asleep. 

Lauren returned a few minutes later, bringing some cooked food in, claiming she didn’t want to cook it inside. But she had no idea what had happened to Scott or Stefan, claiming that they were asleep when she’d gone outside. 

~

Callum had realised something. He realised that he didn’t really care. He didn’t want anyone to get hurt, but he’d prefer it be the others - especially the person who he thought might be lying to them - than him. 

So when Noctis called the emergency radio - worried about if she’d done anything, Callum left it almost immediately. Phil not long after him. 

The other four in the submarine, having gotten confirmation that Scott and Stefan were indeed alive, decided to continue onwards, to try and get to base camp beta as fast as they could. But Callum and Phil decided to stay in the submarine a bit longer. 

“Phil.” Callum asked him, once the other four had set off, the eight split up again now. “I don’t think this was a good idea. Something is definitely wrong here.”

The other man nodded. “First sign of being able to leave, and I will. We weren’t even meant to come, were we Cal?”

Callum shook his head. Scott was the one who had been invited. Callum had wanted to spy on his friend, wanted to be involved in history, wanted to  **go down in history** . But he realised that going down in history wasn’t all it was claimed to be. He realised that a lot of people who went down in history died in order to get it, and he’d much prefer to live a happy life with his girlfriend than get fame from death.

Something he didn’t think some other people on his team agreed with.

~

Tubbo was glad Scott verbally confirmed he was alive, but he didn’t understand why the pair had left them. He could remember the distrust between Scott and Callum - distrust that hadn’t seemed to be there before, but he didn’t understand why that meant that they had to leave. 

Tubbo decided he wanted to talk to them himself, but they hadn’t stayed in the emergency meeting channel for very long. So he decided to trial and error it. There were only four channels, and they had to be in one of them. 

Channel one was empty. Channel two was Noctis, Lauren, and Tommy - he knew that so didn’t need to check. He flicked the switch to channel three, and heard Callum’s voice. “Whatever it takes.” the man said quietly, before noticing the ping. “Hello?” he said, rather worriedly. 

“Hello!” Tubbo replied, “Is Scott here?” 

“No. He’s not.” Phil added. “I think they went channel four.” It was a guess, but it was the only channel Tubbo hadn’t tried, so he assumed it was correct.

“Thanks! Bye!”

“Bye Tubbo!” Callum replied with a smile, he’d always had a soft spot for his friend's brother. 

Tubbo was about to join channel four, but he got distracted. The four of them had finally left the icey area, and instead found themselves surrounded by giant bricks carved into the stones itself, giant wooden beams above them, and large roaring lit fires.

If the centre of the Earth was an alien planet, whoever - or whatever - made this would be the equivalent to humans. But other than the fires themselves, there was no sign of anything being alive. 

The four of them ended up trying to explore, finding weirder and weirder things. Noctis found a door about ten times the height of her that wouldn’t open. Tubbo found a giant pile of golden materials just lying about. Tommy found a giant support beam that looked like an enormous crossbow. Lauren found something very strange. A giant stream of lava with what appeared to be a bucket pulling lava out of it. 

But eventually, they decided to not push their luck any further, and headed to base camp beta.

By some strange coincidence, Phil and Callum arrived at much the same time, and as all six of them headed in.

Base Camp Beta looked almost identical to Base Camp Alpha, but slightly more overgrown. A few holes, a few vines in places where there weren’t vines in Base Camp Alpha.

The six of them began to settle into Base Camp Beta. Scott and Stefan claimed they’d be there, and said they were when Tubbo ended up joining their channel, but the next time that he tried, it was just static, their gps signal wasn’t specific enough to specify more than that they were in the base camp. 

And none of them could find either of them. Noctis didn’t want to try too hard. She and Lauren both knew Stefan very well, and knew that if their radios were static, but the gps signals were still in the basecamp, it was probably on purpose. And given their conversation the previous night, she was hoping that he was trying to work out something, likely with Scott for a reason. 

Tubbo seemed slightly worried for Scott, but accepted Noctis’ attempted explanation as true. Tommy didn’t seem to realise, but Callum and Phil seemed to notice, but then decided to ignore it. 

Noctis couldn’t tell what she thought about it. She  _ hoped _ that everything was okay, and that Stefan and Scott had just found a part of the base camp that she didn’t know about.

“Hey guys.” Noctis smiled slightly. At the base camps, they tended to all meet in the corridor whenever the meetings were called. “I think we should stay here for a day, maybe two. We don’t know what’s beyond here, and I think we need to rest up.” 

  
The others nodded, before starting to talk about other things. Noctis tried to get involved, but something was nagging at the back of her head.  **_What if something actually has gone wrong_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope nothing has actually gone wrong, but it hasn't, had it?


	9. Beneath the Surface

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scott and Stefan begin to piece everything together

Noctis’ hopes were correct. Stefan and Scott had found a way to get up on a ledge behind one of the floating abandoned train-car structures. They had found a wireless radio, and brought it with them. That, along with the journal, was enough to try and piece together what was going on.

Scott was very glad that the base camps - even the strange, hidden areas of the base camps - had the right atmosphere to be able to breath safely. It meant that the duo could take their helmets off, and jam them. It’d mean that there was no way of anyone intruding on their conversation.

Scott pulled off his helmet first, setting it down on the floor by his feet. Stefan was fiddling with a device in his backpack, before sticking one of the prongs into the indent on the back of Scott’s hemet, jamming the signal. He then removed his own helmet, and Scott wished he had kept his on. They could see each other through the helmet visors, but tinted and hidden. 

As Stefan removed his own helmet, Scott had realised again that his feelings were very much valid. Yes, he did end up developing feelings for any man who flirted back to him, or at least any man who didn’t deny his flirting - and some men who did - but Stefan was definitely attractive.

Stefan had bent down, plugging the jamming device into his own helmet. He smiled. “The blocker, the helmet ports! All planned. I didn’t know when I might’ve needed some privacy.” 

He turned back to the ledge between them. There had been a rockfall, that created a ledge with a jutting out bit in the middle. Which felt like a table between the two, and was where Scott had placed the radio. 

The radio very clearly still had power, and was humming slightly, but neither man was paying attention to it. Stefan had the journal out again, and was reading through the visible pages as in depth as he could. There was still the  _ step six _ , with its ominous warning of death.

The pair had seen this page many times by this point, the smudged black ink engraved into their brains. But Stefan had paused, not continuing after reading out this point. “There’s a date.” he said quietly. Stefan turned to the first page of the journal, the smudged ink barely legible. But a date was still just about legible. “It’s the day before the drill began it’s mission.” he said, barely audible. “If this is accurate, and not just planted to mess with us, they planned our mission before most of us - before nearly all of us - were even born.”

“But why?” Scott had asked. “Why would they send us on a mission planned so long ago?”

The pair sat in silence, still unsure of what to do, or what the answer to any of their questions were. Stefan flicked through the journal more, until he ended up on a page that neither of the duo had seen before. It was a strange diagram of the drill. “Storage space. Autopilot.” Scott leaned over the journal as well, the pair of them slightly brushing their heads together. “How much storage space would one drill need?” he looked up, locking eyes with Stefan properly, for the first time in days. “This is energy storage, fuel storage. The way it’s stored would not take this much space unless.”

They both made the realisation at the same time. The drill wasn’t lost. It was doing it’s purpose. Waiting to be autopiloted back to the surface. Dr Barney and Dr Minnowski weren’t unlucky, they weren’t mistaken casualties. If they were dead - which if they weren’t would be a miracle - it would be because they were meant to be.

Scott and Stefan just had to hope that their deaths weren’t meant to be. But the more and more they read the journal, the more they feared.

“We can’t tell the others.” Scott finally said, breaking the silence. “That whatever is going on could lead to our deaths. From what I can tell, it’s not a certain death scenario. Why would he want to kill us anyway?”

They could both tell that he was only trying to convince himself at this point. The second legible page - it was the sixth or seventh in the journal - had only ten words written on it in block capitals, filling the entire page.  **FAME. FOR. ME. AND A BETTER FUTURE FOR MY DAUGHTER** . Alan didn’t care about any of them. He wanted fame, wealth, and a better future for his daughter. 

The first big reveal by this page was the fact that Alan had a daughter. She would be at least 30 years old, assuming she was still alive. 

But if he wanted fame and money, he wouldn’t want to split any of it with people like Stefan, Scott, their new colleagues, and the initial scientists who travelled in the drill with them. 

Stefan finally realised the bigger picture. “Scott.” he said quietly. “It’s my fault. Even if it was concepted a few years before I was born, it’s still my mission. I still picked who would come on it. There’s teenagers, people in relationships, friends, some who I’d even consider close enough to be family. And I’m leading them to their potential death, Scott. I’m leading you to your potential death.”

As Stefan was about to continue to blame himself for the team’s potential future deaths, the pair heard the familiar excited screams. It always signified the rest of the group. As they flew in through the entrance hatch, Stefan crouched around behind one of the rocks. Neither of them wanted to be seen, and questioned.

As Noctis led a hunt to try and find the pair, they grabbed the journal and the radio, and hid behind the rockfall. Neither of them were doing anything inherently wrong, but they wanted to remain hidden.

It was a very long ten minutes, both men shoved against each other, trying to remain as still and quiet as possible. But eventually, Noctis called it off, claiming it was late, and they should try again in the morning; as well as saying she’d want to stay at the base camp all day the next day, as they didn’t know what would be coming up, and they needed to be back to peak physical strength. 

Stefan was very grateful for both of these things. It meant that he and Scott could remove themselves from the small gap in the rockfall that they’d tried to fit into. 

“So.” Scott said, once he had sat down again, his voice quieter now that he knew there were other people close by. “Dr Columbus wants us to die?”

“Well.” Stefan replied. “I’m not sure. He definitely didn’t care about - possibly even wanted Dr Barney and Dr Minnowski to die. He wanted to be famous. The drill project is like the titanic. A tragedy that becomes famous. But something like a brave team of investigators rescuing the new titanic, while also solving the global energy project. It’s in his own best wishes for fame to keep us alive.” 

Scott wasn’t sure if Stefan believed it, or he was just trying to convince the pair. But based on the cautious smile, it was likely the latter.

“I say we use the radio.” Stefan added after a pause. “We talk to Sasha. Ask her what to do. We’ve gone too far to come back now, but a pair of eyes inside the headquarters would be helpful. Someone who we can trust to not tell anyone.”

The pair continued scouring over the journal. Neither really knew what was going on. Only that something was wrong, and they could not trust anyone at headquarters. Except Sasha.

Stefan had never had a particularly long list of colleagues he trusted, he was always thinking that someone would backstab him in some way. But that list had shrunk to eight other people. Scott, Lauren and Noctis were the people he trusted most, Sasha really high up as well. The other four he didn’t know as well, but he still trusted Tubbo, Tommy, Callum and Phil.

Callum and Phil didn’t seem to trust him and Scott, but he still trusted them. He understood how suspicious it seemed from an outsider's perspective; but they didn’t want to worry anyone. This information would be kept between him, Scott, and hopefully Sasha.

The pair kept going over different theories, trying to work out what they should know, and what the answer to their questions were. None of these theories seemed to add up, but they didn’t need the full picture. They just needed to know if they would be in danger, and if they were; what they could do instead. 

They eventually heard Tubbo yelling good night, it turned out that the child’s volume was actually useful occasionally, as Scott heard the quieter replies, and doors closing. 

Stefan fiddled with the radio, trying to point it to the headquarters. In theory, they could’ve called Sasha from their wingsuit radios, but the signal wasn’t strong enough to get through. They just had to hope that the wireless radio was strong enough to get through.

It had connected, but Sasha wasn’t picking up.

“C’mon Sasha!” Stefan tapped the radio, pleading for it to be picked up on the other end. “This is important. It’s potential life and death.” 

Him and Scott looked at each other. She had to pick up. They needed her to pick up. She was the way that they would find out what to do. Maybe - Scott thought - they were pinning too much on a woman he didn’t even know, but Stefan trusted her, and Scott trusted Stefan.

Scott hadn’t realised it properly until this point, but he realised that he’d trust the other man with his life. There weren’t many people who he did, but Stefan was definitely one of them.

Stefan heard a quiet voice emit from the radio. “Hello?” the voice asked softly. Scott and Stefan smiled at each other, Stefan audibly thanking  _ whatever managed to get it to work _ . “Stefan? Why aren’t you calling from your suit radio?” 

The pair looked at each other yet again. Scott spoke. “Suit radios broke. The connection wouldn’t get through. We found this at Base Camp Beta. But we need to talk to you Sasha, it’s urgent. It can’t wait”

“Isn’t it late?” Sasha noticed that he’d already answered that question “Shouldn’t you speak to-”

  
Scott and Stefan both replied no in unison, with Stefan continuing. “Sasha.” He said. “I need to tell you - and ask you something. It’s very important. Just you.”   
  
“Okay.” Sasha said, as they heard the sound of rustling papers. “What do you want to say?”


	10. The Surface

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few key moments from back on the surface :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes we are getting two chapters today. This one is short, I did a lot of this morning's one yesterday. I'm enjoying writing this!

Alan walked up and down the side of the drill, making sure to inspect it  _ very _ carefully. He checked the base, ensuring the extra sized storage container was properly attached, as well as the wiring that let the entire process be automated. He pulled out his journal again, labelling the diagram he’d drawn.

He knew that he would need to remember how to keep the automation programmed in. He had plugged the connection drive into the internal computer, which he knew nobody would ever find - he didn’t even label it in his journal, and plugged the matching one into his computer. He just needed to note down the things that he’d need to do to control the automation from his computer.

The important part was that Barney and Minnowski would have to be in control until the drill reached the core. The automation technology wasn’t that advanced yet. It could be made to pause, gather energy, or to move, but it couldn’t path it’s own route. 

Barney and Minnowski’s roles were simple. They would pilot the drill to the centre of the Earth, and then they would unforeseeably die in a freak accident. Something would go wrong. Instant national - if not worldwide coverage. GDL would move onto other projects, before some kind of development in technology - Alan wasn’t sure what it would be, but technology was advancing at a rate that something would obviously come up at some point. He sends a team to try and discover what happened, and bring back the drill and bodies of the crew. If everything went to plan, everything would be fine. The drill would  _ just so happen _ to still have fuel in, which would fix the probably even worsened energy crisis.

The freak accident and recovery would give him so much more coverage, so when he fixed the drill’s flaws, and sent it back down again, it would be widely watched, the entire world watching on in anticipation, for either another disaster, or success. And when success came - because it would’ve always been possible - people would buy into his company, and his idea. Fame, money. It didn’t have to be sustainable, it just needed to last two generations. Long enough for him and his daughter to ride off the fame, the money, and the future.

“Is this good sir?” the engineer asked him, as he realised he’d just been writing in his journal rather than saying anything. 

“Yes.” he nodded. “All perfect. Get the seats fitted to Barney and Minnowski. I’ll be back in half an hour.”

Alan strode out of the room, leaving the engineers making some finishing touches to the drill.

He walked over to another building in the facility, where his daughter and partner were staying. His partner was missing, he just saw his three year old daughter sitting on the bed alone. She jumped up, hugging his leg. “Dad!” she smiled. 

“Hey.” Alan said, crouching down next to her, smiling. “You good?” 

The girl smiled back at him. “I’m good!”

He looked back, his stern expression melting. “You want to come see something fun?” The girl nodded excitedly.

~

Years had passed, and Alan’s daughter had grown up into a young teenager. He still wasn’t sure what had happened to his partner, but she hadn’t said anything in the past ten years, and him and his daughter lived a happy life together. As soon as she was old enough for a part time job, she started work at GDL with her father. 

She worked very well at GDL, outperforming those even years more experienced than she was. But yet she never got to be a scientist, instead staying at the same base level of her job. But she didn’t mind, because that was the only thing she had ever known.

~

Another twenty years had passed, and Alan had finally got to the point that he could activate the next stage of his plan. He had recruited the smartest inventor he’d ever met. As much as he tried to deny it, to stroke his own ego, the young man was possibly even smarter than he was.

He hoped that the younger man wasn’t going to do anything stupid. He didn’t want to kill the younger man. He didn’t particularly want to even injure him, but if it knocked the man down a few pegs, he didn’t want to rule it out. 

Once the group had left, Alan looked for his journal, but couldn’t find it. He remembered dropping it in a puddle near the drop zone, and not picking it up because he couldn’t disturb the launch. He hoped that the janitors had taken it, and he could get it back soon. It was very important that it didn’t get into the wrong hands. 

The information it contained was thirty years worth of planning the maximum global coverage. If it ever got released, or any of the information leaked, all the publicity he’d been building up would go down the drain. And that was the absolute worst case scenario.

He’d rather kill everyone else on the planet - or to be specific, anyone who knew that information - than let them live with it. 

On reflection, it probably wasn’t the best of ideas to write it down physically, and then lose the journal. But Alan didn’t trust anyone involved with anything digital. Just someone reverse-engineering some encryption and it would be leaked to the world. 

Alan sighed, looking down. He hoped that if anyone  _ had _ found the journal, they wouldn’t be smart enough to do anything with the information.

But Alan knew things weren’t that interesting, and started to prepare his back up plans. There was always the mechanism built into the drill - scientists always asked too many questions, and then there was his major plan. The major plan was incredibly risky, but it was worth it. 

“Sasha!” he yelled, a slightly lighter tone of voice than his normal demands. “You have the list of the team’s spouses?”

“Yep!” Sasha called back, a grin on her face. “You want me to call them in!”

“Yes.” Alan replied, his voice hard and cold again. “I hope it doesn’t come to it, but I want them here just in case.”

“Okay!” Sasha replied enthusiastically. “I just need to take this call first!”

Alan checked the time on his watch, confused. “Who would be calling? It’s gone two AM.”

Sasha put her hand over the phone, blocking the person on the other end from hearing her words. “It’s Stefan! He’s getting in contact for some reason! Give me a few minutes!” 

With that she turned back to the phone, moving Stefan’s case file to the top of the pile. “Hello?”

  
  



	11. Emergency Calls, Emergency Protocols

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scott and Stefan tell Sasha what they had found out, but that may not've been the smartest thing to do. On the surface, Dr (Mrs Sir) Alan Columbus (III) initiates some emergency protocols, but people on both ends of the mission are becoming suspicious.

Stefan and Scott had rushed through the explanation of what they’d figured out, trying to convey their worries to Sasha. 

“But you understand.” Stefan finally said, the serious tone never having left his voice during the entire explanation. “You can’t tell this to anyone, Sasha!”

“Stefan,” she replied, sounding quiet, and exhausted. “I don’t know why you needed to tell this to specifically me at 2am, but okay, I won’t tell anyone. Can I maybe go get some sleep, and speak in the morning?” 

“Okay.” Stefan replied, trying to calm himself down. “I don’t know if we’ll sleep, but okay. Talk in a few hours.”

“Bye Stefan!” she said, in the calm half-asleep way she did whenever it was too late to really be awake. “Bye Scott!” 

There was a clicking sound from the radio, and Stefan turned it off. He turned to Scott. “So Sasha’s on our side!” 

Stefan was smiling, a glow in his eyes that he probably didn’t realise he had. The feeling of hope, after Stefan had felt lost in the despair of everything going on. 

“Sasha’s on our side!” Scott replied, excited too.

Neither of the pair decided to put their helmets back on. They were even more grateful for the breathability of the base camps. The rockfall area was strangely warm, with them also removing some of their wingsuits - knowing they could put them back on in the morning. 

Everyone was wearing clothes under their wingsuits, so taking them off wasn’t an issue. The pair of them pulled out their sleeping bags, and bed mats. Like Sasha said, it was getting late, and all three of them were obviously tired.

Stefan especially was shattered. He didn’t know why, but he felt exhausted, and fell asleep nearly as soon as he was lying mostly horizontally. Scott was tired, but didn’t fall asleep as fast, staring up at the cracks in the cave ceiling, tracing the air that lined up with them with his finger. 

He could hear the other man’s asleep breathing - not quite snoring, but not far from it - and the comfort that he wasn’t alone helped him fall asleep as well, not long after.

~

Strangely, the only person to suggest going to sleep, was also the one who didn’t. As soon as the radio call ended, Sasha’s half-asleep tone vanished, and her voice sounded ready and alert again. “Father!” she stood up, holding the notes she had taken in one hand, stepping out from behind her desk.

The facility was near-deserted, so being a receptionist wasn’t the most important thing for her in that moment.

She started walking over to her father’s office, her high heel’s clacking, echoing through the empty building. “Alan.” she repeated, her voice cold, and calculated. “The janitors didn’t take your journal. Stefan and Scott have it. I don’t know who else on the mission they may have told, but from what they’ve said, it’s just the pair of them who know about it.”

“Sorry,” Alan replied, “Who did you say had it? I know Scott’s one of those so-called professionals who have been recruited. Who’s Stefan?”

Sasha sighed slightly, her sigh almost sounding sarcastic. “Noxite and Scott.” she said again, tilting her head slightly. “You know full well Noxite’s actual name is Stefan, what do you have against it?”

“It makes him sound more like an actual person.” Alan replied coldly. He had deliberately given the young man a different name when he started working at GDL. Because in Alan’s eyes, the man didn’t deserve respect yet. He was incredibly smart, and Alan didn’t want to accept that another person could be as smart - yet alone smarter - than he was, especially at under half his age. And if that meant dehumanising him, well, if it was the best possible option what else could he do?

Sasha put aside the name dispute, and continued her explanation. “They’re putting things together, but I don’t think they’ve worked out the full extent of the plan. Noxite - the naïve idiot he is - seems to completely trust me. Scott on the other hand.” She paused, looking semi-disgusted and semi-confused. “I don’t think he trusts  _ me _ , but I don’t think he’s really  _ thinking _ .” 

Alan laughed slightly at this, and it sounded forced even though it wasn’t. “Can we go over the list of people who you’re bringing?” he asked, “And send them the messages.”

Sasha flicked over the files in her arms, pulling another one out, the list of names. “Not everyone has someone, but we have a few. Phil’s wife, Callum’s girlfriend,” she paused. “Are these guys really this alone? Only a quarter of them are even in a relationship? The rest of them are just random single people? Wow.”

Alan shook his head slightly, in a fake disapproving way, but the smile on his face showed his real opinions on the matter.

“Contact those two, and then get some rest Sasha. You look like you need it.”

Sasha left voicemails for Kristin and Mich, and then headed across the GDL compound to her apartment. “Goodnight then.” she thought to herself, wishing that there was someone to say goodnight to her.

~

When Noctis woke up, it had only been a few hours since everyone had gone to sleep; they decided to not leave anyone on guard - it was a base camp, there wasn’t anything to be scared of. 

She decided to go and sit on the roof of the building within the base camp, but when she did, she noticed a faint glow in the otherwise darkness. Intrigued, she decided to investigate. 

When she did, she found it was coming from a strangely high up pile of rocks. She could see two ways to get up to it. Either try and climb up the heap, or just risk it and use her wingsuit. She decided to use her wingsuit. 

From her start on top of the building, she managed to make it to the cave where the light was coming from. 

The light was coming from what looked like a wireless radio. It had  _ To the surface _ scratched onto the top of it, and Noctis looked at it confused. And then she noticed the men in front of it. She had found them!

But Noctis didn’t understand what was going on. Why had the men hidden away in a rocky hole, when they could’ve been sleeping in comfortable actual beds? Why hadn’t they stayed with the others. What were they doing with a radio to the surface? 

Stefan was one of Noctis’ closest friends, but in that moment she wasn’t sure if she trusted him. Maybe Callum and Phil had a point. Maybe he - and maybe even Scott too - was responsible for what was going on.

She was contemplating whether to wake Stefan up, ask why he was looking after a radio, but the man could be scary, and she didn’t want to face  _ that _ . 

She slipped away, back to the main building; but planning to come back in a few hours, when the two men would likely be awake.

~

“Mich, Kristen; welcome!” It was properly morning now, and the two people who Sasha had called in had arrived. “Glad to have you here.” Neither of the two properly knew what to expect, but Callum and Phil respectively had told them that there was a chance that something might happen, and to come in if needed. Sasha had sounded friendly, which they were glad about. 

“Anyway.” Sasha continued. “If you could follow me please?” She gestured to the downwards stairs, opening the door. Even though she asked them to follow her, she wanted the pair to go first. They seemed confused by this, but did so. Sasha turned around, a wide smile on her face, and flashed a thumbs up to Alan. It was under control.

~

That morning, it wasn’t Tubbo that woke everyone up, but Noctis. She had gone around, knocking on everyone’s doors. The initial idea of letting everyone sleep had been cast aside, deciding it was nearly midday, and she needed to get everyone to gather, to talk about what she had discovered.

“What is it?” Callum yawned as he spoke, starting the conversation once everyone had gathered around, sitting on the floor in the corridor. 

“Callum, Phil.” Noctis said, in a way that could have been a reply, but also just an opening statement. “I think you might be right. Scott and -” Noctis stopped, thinking to herself. Stefan was her friend, but he didn’t seem to be trustworthy at the moment. Alan had told her that he had given the man a different name for a reason, and Noctis seemed to realise why. “Scott and Noxite have been lying to us all. They’re in contact with the surface. I found them asleep, with a radio labelled  _ To the surface _ . Like c’mon, that’s not even hidden. They weren’t even wearing their wingsuits”

“How do you know it wasn’t a dream?” Tubbo asked, confused. “That doesn’t feel like the sort of thing Scott would do.”

“I’ll show you!” Noctis was practically shouting in annoyance by this point. “Come with me!”

The other five followed her, the jump with the wingsuits much easier now she didn’t need to worry about being quiet. But when they got to where Noctis swore she saw the pair, there was nothing. The pile of rocks was still there, but it was a solid pile of rocks, no gap in it. 

The others looked at her, confused. Tubbo the most. As much as he claimed that maybe it was a dream, he had accepted that his brother was acting weird, so Noctis’ confusion confused him as well. 

Noctis crouched down, scrabbling at the rocks, trying to find where they were. “They must’ve been lying. I remember what happened.”

“We’ll come back once you’ve actually found something.” Callum said, still nearly asleep, and not wanting to be awake. The other five had headed back, and Noctis stayed, looking at the heap of rocks with a confused and angry expression on her face.

If it was a dream, where were they? Noxite and Scott couldn’t’ve vanished! “Scott!” she called. “Noxite?”

Noctis decided that maybe the dream was telling her that the pair were hiding in some other rockfall, so walked around, mumbling under her breath, looking for other heaps of rocks.

~

Once Noctis had left, Stefan breathed a sigh of relief. “Noxite?” Scott sounded confused, the question not aimed at Stefan, but feeling more general, more like he’d let his confusion be said aloud.

Stefan nodded. “Noxite. It’s me.”

“Yeah.” Scott sighed slightly, “I’d worked that out. But why? And why’s Noctis calling you that too?” 

The pair sat silently, enjoying each other’s closeness. When Noctis had come and found them, Scott was lying awake, but tried his best to seem like he was asleep. Apparently he’d been convincing. He’d woken Stefan up, and the pair worked together to bury the opening, to make it seem as much like they weren’t in fact hiding in it as possible.

“Well.” Stefan spoke quietly, worried about someone coming back and finding them. “Dr Columbus - up at GDL - gave me the name Noxite. Everyone there knows me as it. Nearly everyone in my life doesn’t even know my name is Stefan. Only you, Sasha, Lauren, and Noctis.”

“Maybe that’s why Noctis used it? Because Tubbo, Callum, Phil, Tommy don’t know?” Scott seemed confused by what was going on. “But why did you even get given a new name?” 

Stefan shrugged. “I don’t know. Nobody else did. Just me. Alan said it was important that I did.”

The pair looked at each other, unsure what to do. But when they were satisfied with everyone having gotten far enough away from where they were, they started to unbury the rocks, pulling their suits back on, but leaving their helmets off. 

While everyone was doing other things, the pair snuck back into the main building, finding a bedroom that hadn’t been taken, and hiding the helmets and radio under a table. Somehow, nobody had noticed them sneaking back into the main building. 

The two of them then stood up, Stefan deliberately tripping over a chair to make some noise. 

~

Callum heard the sound of clatters. “Guys!” he called. “I think I hear something!” 

He rushed back into the building, Tubbo following. He ran into the room in the building where the noise was coming from, seeing Noxite standing, rubbing his leg. “Ow.” he said. Scott stood up, noticing that the others had come in. “Stefan,” he said under his breath. “They’re here.”

Callum turned out of the building, yelling to Noctis. “Noctis! Lauren! I found them!”

Noctis and Lauren came in, to find Callum staring at the bed that Scott was still lying in, with Noxite rubbing his leg again, also sitting on the bed. “Hi guys.” Stefan said, sounding slightly tired and annoyed at himself. “Sorry if I woke you guys up, I tripped over the chair.”

“No.” Noctis said, sounding confused. “We’ve been awake for a few hours. We’ve been looking for you guys. Your helmet signals weren’t working.”

“Speaking of helmets,” Callum said, confused. “You took them off?”

Noxite nodded at him. “It was getting too hot in here, and the atmosphere’s perfectly breathable.”

Scott turned away from them, picking his helmet up off the floor, and putting it back on. He was glad for an excuse to hide his face. “The others are here now Stefan!” he whispered semi-aggressively; the other man noticing the shift in tone, and putting his own helmet back on as well. 

Eventually, Callum, Tubbo and Lauren left the room, leaving only Noctis with Scott and Noxite. “I saw you.” She said. It had a questioning undertone, but also was very much not a question. “Up in the rockfalls, asleep, not even wearing your wingsuits, and with a strange radio,”

“I mean.” Scott replied, not sure how much he wanted to say. “Half right. We did spend the night asleep, just in shorts and t-shirts, but we very much were here, and I have no idea about the radio.”

Noctis wasn’t sure how much she believed, but she wanted to trust them. But she felt a different question in her mind. What were Scott and Noxite doing that was so secret with a radio that they had to lie about it.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pay attention to what the 3rd person perspective narrator is saying, and how that could mark a switch in relationships


	12. The Final Mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They travel down tunnel three, but all they are left with is a hole and an ominous warning.

Noctis still didn’t trust Noxite or Scott completely, though everything seemed to add up to her simply dreaming it. But she needed to push her worries aside, because they were going to travel through the tunnel as an eight, not knowing what would be coming. 

They had spent the rest of the day, and the next night in the Base Camp, with nothing significant happening. 

The next day the eight of them walked up to the drip zone, and stared down at it. 

It was a combination of the weirdest things they had ever seen.

It started with a section with even more technology. Smaller drills lining the wall. Hanging hoops on iron bars across the ceiling. There was also what appeared to be a parked train carriage with smaller tracks on top of it. 

The eight of them sat on the platform, looking down to what they saw before them. They had sat in silence for nearly half an hour, nobody knowing what to say, nor wanting to be the one to suggest they set off. 

Eventually, Noxite suggested something that Noctis had to agree was not an awful idea. “I know we planned on going as an eight, but given… Current feelings, wouldn’t it be smarter to stick in smaller groups for the most part.”

“How about we go back to fours?” Lauren suggested. 

Callum shook his head at both of the suggestions. “We can be an eight. We always have the communications devices if anyone needs to discuss something secretly.” He stared at Noxite, but it was more of a friendly smile. 

~

Still not friendly, but it wasn’t as hostile as it had been in the past, which Stefan took as a win. For some reason - that he didn’t really understand - Noctis had decided to try and break all the disagreements. She claimed that it was important to trust each other, and that everyone would always have secrets from the others. She said that she just had to believe that if it was important, people would share it.

Stefan wasn’t sure if it was important - it probably was, but the conversation with Sasha had reassured him that hope wasn’t all lost. The doctor would much prefer them to be alive for the publicity stunt, it was just a book of ifs, and worst case scenarios.

He hoped he had convinced Scott, and he had very nearly convinced himself. Only after he had the conversation with Sasha did he realise that the very act of the conversation could cause a worst case scenario, but Stefan saw no reason why Sasha would tell anyone. There was no incentive for her to, and he had sworn her to secrecy. 

Stefan had eventually thought it through further - with Scott’s help - and had come to the conclusion that as long as Dr Columbus didn’t find out, it should be fine. Reading between the lines changed the journal’s meaning, from death threats to potential death if his initial drill plans were found out about. 

~

“We going?” Scott asked. After agreeing to set off in the eight, they had sat on the ledge, looking over the weirdly placed technology for another five minutes. People nodded, some more enthusiastically than others. They had packed their bags with enough food to last a few weeks. Nobody knew how long this tunnel would take to travel, or what was at the end of it. 

Scott jumped down, pulling open the wings of his wingsuit, and gliding to one of the floating hoops. “I think we’re going.” he added, hoping he hadn’t misinterpreted the others’ expressions. The others nodded, the fear of the unknown on their faces changing to excitement at being able to fly again, which they hadn’t been able to do in days. Everyone missed flying - even Lauren. 

Phil and Callum followed Scott, deliberately taking risky pathing, to try and get their adrenaline of flying back. As the others started to fly past him, Scott stayed standing on the hoop, pulling out his communication device. He quickly typed a message to Noctis, asking her to stay back, because he needed to say something very important to her.

Noctis did so, the other six taking the lead. Scott pushed the mute button on his helmet, with Noctis following suit. “I need to tell you something.” Scott said quietly. “But it is very important that you don’t tell _anyone_.” Noctis nodded. “I won’t tell anyone.” she replied. 

“You’re not crazy.” Scott told her, as he stepped over a hole in the steps. “When you saw us in the night? I was awake. We hid ourselves.”   
  
“I knew it!” Noctis said, her voice nearly sounding angry. “I knew I wasn’t imagining things! What were you doing?”

Scott turned back to face her. “I can’t tell you that, for your own safety. Stefan and I worked something out, but if we get found out by the person we found the stuff out about.” he laughed slightly, but sounded more scared than happy. “Anyone who knows this is at risk of death. A threat that we know can be carried out. But remember what you said! Trust!” He was practically pleading with Noctis at this point. “Trust me, trust Stefan. We’re not telling anyone for your own good.” 

With that, Scott let go of his mute button, and flew forward, to catch up to the rest of the group. 

~

Phil was leading the pack. The floor was rocky, and incredibly uneven, but Phil managed to make a safe path that everyone followed through. He looked behind him to make sure that everyone was following. After Phil was Tubbo, then Tommy, then Noxite, then Lauren. After Lauren came Callum, who was making sure nobody had hung back too far. Scott and Noctis quickly caught back up to Callum, with Noctis walking alongside Lauren, and Scott running a bit further to catch up to Noxite, paying attention to the floor, making sure that he didn’t trip over.

“Oh my…” Phil was so shocked, he couldn’t even finish his sentence. Tubbo - who wasn’t particularly paying attention - walked right into Phil’s back, falling back slightly, and very nearly setting off a domino chain. Tommy wasn’t paying attention to what was in front of them either, instead looking at Tubbo, hoping he was okay. Scott was the next to actually see what Phil had seen, also coming to a pause.

Scott could rationalise giant mushrooms, he could rationalise jungles, he could rationalise technology. But this was weird tendrils of slime, that fell weirdly, and yet felt completely solid to touch. They felt slightly like they were throbbing, and some of the tendrils were definitely glowing. 

There were larger clumps as well. Strange sphere-like collections of the tendrils. He instinctively reached back, holding onto the wall, reassuring himself that yes, it really was real.

“What is that?” Noctis was the first to actually be able to speak, though her voice sounded slightly breathless. 

“I have no idea.” Phil had regained his ability to talk as well, though he didn’t seem to feel particularly confident in anything he was saying.

“Maybe wait here for a bit?” Noctis suggested. Only she, Phil, and Callum were properly standing up anymore. Tommy and Tubbo were sitting on the floor, Tubbo rubbing his head, though it was more confusion then any actual injury. Scott was leaning into the wall even further than he had before. She turned back in front of her, and saw Lauren and Noxite lying on the floor, looking at the weird tendrils. Even Phil looked unsteady on his feat. 

“Yeah, probably wait here.” Callum added, as Phil sat down too. For some reason, neither Callum or Noctis had been affected to the same extent with the complete confusion that rendered the others unable to do anything.

They had both still frozen momentarily at the site - who wouldn’t! It looked even less like Earth than any of the previous things they’d passed - but they had regained themselves quickly.

It took about half an hour of waiting before everyone was ready to continue. Callum had been pacing about, jumping up to the closest tendril, before gliding to another, and then gliding back. 

But the thing that was possibly the scariest about the weird alien tendrils wasn’t the tendrils themselves. All the other giant chasms had floors. They seemed really far down and barely visible sometimes, but there was always solid ground. It didn’t feel like there was solid ground beneath the tendrils. Some weird fluffy material, but Stefan was sure it wouldn’t actually be fluffy. Especially not with the random holes and patches that appeared to be scattered throughout the floor. 

Luckily, there were enough tendrils that they could glide from one to another. Nobody was quite sure what the tendrils were, but as they flew over, gliding from tendril to tendril, they didn’t particularly seem to care. 

The tendrils took a few hours to cross, but that was with frequent - necessary - breaks. Most of these breaks were called for by Scott, as he was the one keeping an eye on Tubbo, Tommy, Stefan, and Lauren, who were the ones who needed breaks but didn’t want to say they did. Scott himself, Callum and Phil were all experienced enough to not need many breaks at all, so didn’t need any additional ones, though they did appreciate the breathers they got whenever any of the others needed breaks. 

Noctis would also need breaks, but she was perfectly okay with saying so, and quite good at noticing when she needed a break.

The eight eventually managed to make it across the tendrils, only to be faced with a large cracked purple sheet of something that looked like glass. There were weird red rocks seeping out of this glass, like it was infecting through the caves. 

They continued through weirder and weirder caves, finally stopping for a rest once they passed the second sheet of cracked purple glass.

The glass felt like a gateway, they instantly went from sweating from the heat to shivering from the cold. As they rested, Noctis began to understand what Noxite had meant earlier about simply wanting to be close to someone. She moved closer to the others, not wanting to freeze.

Nobody was sure what woke them up, but everyone seemed to wake up within a few minutes of each other. Callum and Phil were _meant to_ be guarding, but hadn’t. 

None of them paid much attention to their surroundings by this point. They simply didn’t care anymore. Most of them were cold, tired, damp. They just wanted to get to the drill.

They found something, what looked as much like a natural staircase as any of them had seen. Embedded into the red dirt were strips of a pinker red, and a dark greyish sort of colour. 

Stefan stepped up to the steps first, and heard a voice in his ear. It was the voice of the suit, sounding like Lauren and nothing like her simultaneously. The voice sounded happier for one thing. Lauren, like the others, was too tired and cold to care about sounding happy anymore. 

As Stefan climbed the stairs, the others followed him - all hearing the happy Lauren-like announcement in their ears. 

The ground changed from the hell-like reds, oranges, and yellows; to a much more subdued blue tint.

“Core drill sensed nearby.” Lauren said aloud, as she heard something nearly identical to her own voice in her own ear.

There was a large hole ahead of them, and they paused, looking at it. Noctis jumped down first, before shouting up to the others that it was safe. Lauren, Scott, Tommy and Tubbo jumped down almost before she had finished speaking, with Stefan, Callum, and Phil coming down a few seconds later.

Scott heard the next alert in his ear. “We believe your suit is nearing the maximum temperature it can withstand.” Not-Lauren said. “Please proceed with caution.”


	13. A discovery, and a drill

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They find the drill. But what they had told people was about to catch up to them.

Scott continued forward, listening to not-Lauren’s advice. To proceed with caution. He lent forward over the next edge. It was a downwards tunnel, but Stefan - who had walked up behind him - pointed out a glint of metal buried within it. 

The eight suddenly had hope once again, and began the glide down to the drill. 

It turned out the drop was a lot shorter than expected, and they had reached it within a few minutes. Stefan had studied the drill, knew where all the buttons were, and opened the airlock.

None of the eight knew what to expect on the other side, but they all crowded into the airlock, Callum and Phil stayed far back, with Stefan heading the front. 

Once they were all in, Stefan pressed another button, and their airlock closed, cycling. 

“I’ll go.” Stefan said. “You guys wait here, I’ll tell you if it’s safe.” Stefan was already scared enough of what was happening, he didn’t want to risk anyone in the potentially dangerous drill. 

“I’m coming too.” Scott said. “I already know too much as well.” 

The eight of them had ended up sitting down in the airlock - it had obviously not been opened in thirty years, so took a while to open.

“Good.” Callum muttered under his breath, as Noxite and Scott ventured further into the drill. “Let’s send in the untrustworthy ones. They’re basically expendable.

~

“Oh my god-” There was another voice in the drill with them. “It can’t be! Are you..” The voice seemed to stutter slightly, as though he hadn’t spoken for years. “Are you real?”

Stefan looked forward, peering into the shadows. An old man was standing there, wearing old-looking clothing, and what looked like a damaged astronaut suit of some kind. The orange of his suit contrasted with the whiteness of his hair. 

As the other man walked out from the shadows, Stefan felt like he recognised him, but couldn’t place where from. But then it came to him. It should have been obvious. The man was Dr Barney, the man from the drill. Of course it was, who else would be in the drill. But 30 years had passed, and the man was somehow still alive! 

Scott turned to Stefan. “We need to tell Sasha.” 

“Tell Sasha what?” Lauren had followed them in, and was close enough to hear Scott’s quiet question. 

“GDL must’ve left him down here. They must not’ve known that he was still alive.” Noctis added. 

Somehow, while Scott and Stefan had been distracted by the doctor, the others had also left the airlock and come further into the drill.

Dr Barney spoke again, all six people standing near him instantly turning to face him. “I thought they left me down here for dust.” he whispered. “I don’t know how long it’s been since the drill’s steering stopped working. I don’t know how long it’s been since Minnowski left my side. How old is Sasha now? She was so young, the symbol of the future that we all strived towards.”

Scott had pulled the radio out of his bag, setting it down on a windowsill and crouching down to it. Stefan followed suit, and the other five crowded round, Tubbo and Tommy behind Scott, Lauren and Noctis behind Stefan, Dr Barney in between the two men. 

Sasha picked up much quicker this time. “Sasha.” Stefan sounded rushed this time. “GDL has either been lying to us, or their instruments are malfunctioning.”

“Why’s that, Noxite?” she asked in reply, sounding genuine and sarcastic simultaneously. 

Stefan didn’t notice the sarcasm, nor her using his other name. “We made it to the drill, Sasha! But Dr Barney is still alive!”

“He is?” Sasha asked, sounding genuinely shocked. 

Barney laughed, having been listening in. “They tried to kill us.” he said, sounding almost insane. “There was corrosive gas. Minnowski cut it off but... “ Barney flicked his eyes to the sky, confused. “Where did you go Minnowski!” 

“Wait.” Noctis turned her head between Noxite and Barney, as Noxite nodded slightly. “GDL tried to kill you?”

“It was the plan all along.” Noctis turned straight to Noxite as he spoke. “I found Alan’s journal from thirty years until now. On the floor up at HQ. Scott and I have been working out what it means. Trying our best to, anyway.” 

Scott had noticed the radio was still on. “We’ll call you back in a few hours!” Scott called to Sasha. “Sort out how we’ll bring the drill back, and how Barney can come back with us.”

Scott lent over, and pushed the off button. “I think it’s time, Stefan.” he said. “We can’t hide the truth from them any longer.” he raised his voice slightly. “Anyone who wants to, come over here.”

After a few minutes, a small group had gathered around Scott and Stefan. Barney, Noctis, Lauren, and Tubbo had all gathered round, with Noctis and Lauren being on their left, nearer to the airlock, and Barney and Tubbo being on their right, closer to the control panel. 

~

“Father!” Sasha called to Alan, having been sat at the reception table, she got to her feet, striding over to his office. She wished that he would come to her even once. “They all know now. Scott and Stefan - Scott and Noxite - they told the others. And the initial plans failed. One of the scientists is still alive. I think we have to do it. Yes it’s the drastic plan, but at this point, if we want to conserve our reputation, it’s the only one we have.”

Alan nodded, fiddling with the pen in his hand. “Can we trigger it from here?” Sasha nodded, flipping up her communicator to show it’s true control panel. “I reckon T-40 minutes or so. But they shouldn’t suspect anything is wrong until a few minutes before, and then it’ll hopefully be too late.”

Alan nodded. “Very well.” he sighed. “We’re on thin enough ice as we are. Do you have a plan for if  _ it _ happens.”

Sasha nodded. “The press release just needs to be sent. There’s even two versions depending on how much we want to say about why  _ it _ happened. One mentioning the drill, one simply citing our deep-earth sensors. We can even blame either event on the other if we want.” she laughed slightly. “We’re spoiled for choice.”

“Okay then. Get to it Sasha. Come back once it’s done.”

~

“And yeah.” Stefan had finished explaining what he and Scott had discovered, and Noctis understood why her friend - because he was her friend, one of her closest friends - hadn’t wanted to tell the others. He genuinely didn’t want to endanger them. 

“How long have we been here for?” Scott asked, checking his watch. It had shown an hour, but was nearly 20 minutes to the next. “Should we start trying to turn this drill around?”

The other five agreed with him, Tubbo grabbing Tommy, and dragging the other boy away from Callum and Phil to go look at the control panels with him. 

While Stefan, Barney, and Lauren tried to work out how to control the drill - it seemed like the drill had been programmed to do something that would be very difficult to override - Tommy and Tubbo had found that pushing a certain button activated a picture of a rubber duck, labelled duck cam. 

“Guys. Maybe we should pay attention to this.” Scott had lent down to the floor, and found that it had been making some kind of strange noise, and heating up.

A small waft of smoke emerged, and the now-warm floor began to vibrate. “I think something’s wrong.” Scott had said, slightly raising his voice. Lauren and Noctis didn’t need to be told twice, the pair exiting through the airlock as soon as it had opened again, Callum and Phil having already left the drill. The smoke was increasing rapidly, Scott could barely see, but tried to push through it. 

Tubbo had made it out, perfectly fine except for his now coughing. 

Barney was struggling, his old age and inability to walk quickly being very unhelpful, but Stefan was trying to wait for him, and Scott wasn’t leaving Stefan in the now almost painfully hot and smokey room. 

They had nearly made it to the airlock before an alarm started sounding. It was practically impossible to breath, but they were tantalisingly close to freedom. 

Scott’s fingers brushed the airlock door as it closed. “Tommy!” he called, his throat rough from simply that word through the smoke. “Open it for us!”

He could just about see Tommy shake his head through the door. “I don’t want to go back in there.” he said, before smiling slightly, as though he was trying to convince himself, not the people stuck on the other side. “How would I get a wife if I die of smoke inhalation or whatever’s going on here.”

The airlock felt like it took an eternity to cycle. Scott caught a glimpse of Callum congratulating Tommy. Tubbo looking worried, he couldn’t see any of the others, and as it began cycling back, he practically pulled Stefan into it with him. 

It wouldn't cycle. The lights inside dimmed. The exterior door wouldn’t budge. They were stuck.

“Scott.” Stefan had grabbed the other young man’s hands. “I don’t want to die.” he was breathing quickly, panicking. 

Barney had tried to get into the airlock, but had slumped on the floor next to it. Scott looked straight at Stefan’s face, before clamping his eyes closed. He didn’t want the last image in his head to be of whatever was going to happen to them. 

Neither of the pair saw the fireball that engulfed the front of the drill, the explosion that shattered the entire structure. 

Neither saw the flames and smoke that covered them, that led from there being a drill, to there not being a drill anymore. 

~

Sasha nodded to herself, as she closed the case, placing it down on top of the pile of folders. “It’s done.”

  
  



	14. The Drill Finale

Tubbo and Tommy were sitting on the floor, looking towards the wreckage of the drill. Lauren and Noctis were trying to get the other three out of the rubble. Tommy leaned into a hug, the second one he’d had since narrowly escaping from the drill.

As he’d practically fallen out of the airlock, Callum had hugged him, congratulating him on being able to make it out. 

Nobody had known the airlock locked, and couldn’t be cycled again. They had thought everyone would make it out. 

“It’s my fault.” Tommy said to Tubbo, though he could’ve been talking to himself. “The cycle had started, I couldn’t open the door. But what if I’d waited just a bit longer? Why didn’t it let them out?”

“It isn’t your fault, Tommy. It all happened so fast. We needed to get out.” Tubbo looked over to Lauren, Noctis, Scott, Stefan and Barney; before looking back at Tommy. “I know that Phil and Callum want to just leave, get out of here. If you’re scared, go with them. I won’t judge you. If Scott was okay, I’d go with them too.” They finished their conversation, before Tommy decided it was time to go back to his other teammates. 

Tommy was glad his friend understood, and he went back over to Callum and Phil. Callum was sitting down, head in his hands. “For all I said things would go wrong.” Callum said quietly, as soon as Tommy was close enough to hear him. “I didn’t expect - or want - anyone to get hurt. This was meant to be a dream, to get to explore the inside of the Earth, to get to use the wingsuits, to get to do the fun risky things we weren’t allowed to do on the surface anymore.” He let out a breath, looking up to Phil and Tommy. “I am so glad you got out, Tommy. I just hope that Scott and Noxite - and Dr Barney - get out of this alive. The last time I spoke to the pair of them, they thought I hated them. I overreacted and I never told them.”

With that, Callum stood up. “Are we going?” he asked, Tommy and Phil nodded, and the trio slipped away, only Tubbo noticing.

~

“Sasha!” For once, her father called for her, and Sasha reluctantly got to her feet. She was growing bored of being a receptionist, and the thrill of the Terra Swoop Force mission was gone. 

“Yes, Father. What is it?” She sounded bored, not even sarcastic, just bored. 

“It didn’t work.” Alan replied. “Three of the trackers have moved rapidly, The other six have moved slightly and..” he paused. “ _ It _ has happened. The drill was too close to the fault line. Go for just the sensors story. We’ll speak to these guys when they make it back up. We’ll find a solution. Not that they’ll be talking to anyone for a few months. Go to the stores, buy a lot of warm clothes, and a stockpile of food and drink. Everyone at GDL, and the Terra Swoop Force, and Mich and Kristin. Is the Vault ready?” Sasha nodded, a smile on her face again. 

“Yep!” She grinned even harder. “It’s nearly ready! Plenty of room for everyone, and stockpiles of stuff. Three rooms should be enough for the Force, right? Probably! I think it should be good.” she smiled. “I’ll go buy the final supplies, and then I’ll make the announcement. She’s overdue anyway, people have prepared a bit already.”

~

Scott and Stefan had been helped to sit up, the pair both just about alive. The airlock - though it didn’t let them out - protected them from the worst of the explosion. Besides, they had the helmets on their wingsuits, that while weren’t perfect, stopped the smoke from completely suffocating them. Noctis, Lauren, and Tubbo had all combined all five first aid kits to try to find the right supplies to help the pair.

They had tried to help Doctor Barney, but it had been too late. He was alive - just about - when Noctis had pulled him out of the wreckage. But Stefan and Scott had their helmets on, protecting their lungs from the worst of the smoke. Barney didn’t even have that, and it had only been a few minutes after being rescued that his lungs gave up, and he stopped breathing. 

“Scott?” Tubbo had sat down next to his brother, holding his hand, Noctis and Lauren had gone to grab some more supplies, so it was just him, Scott, and Stefan. “What’s up?”

“Hey Tubbo!” Scott sat up slightly more, leaning into a weak attempt at a hug. His voice was shaky. “Tommy. He. He didn’t let us out.”

Tubbo looked at the floor. He sympathised with both sides of the conversation, he just needed to explain to Scott what Tommy had explained to him. “The door didn’t open. Once the airlock starts cycling, I don’t think the other door can open? At least you’re alive?”

Scott understood what Tubbo was telling him, and that Tommy wasn’t actually at fault. It was his fears of himself - and of Stefan - dying. Tommy was just the one who it felt like it could be. Tommy was the one on the other side of the drill’s airlock’s door. Realistically, he should be blaming whoever built the drill, whoever made the drill, whoever ordered it all. The man who had decided to try to kill him instead of letting him simply know things. 

Alan Columbus.

It was his fault. Not Tommy’s. Not Stefan’s - the man had felt incredibly guilty about putting the others in danger, though he didn’t understand how anyone could’ve known. Alan’s. 

Stefan had opened his eyes again, leaning into the boulder behind them even more. “We should try to head back.” he said quietly. “This was a cursed mission from the start. I’m sorry I dragged everyone into danger.”

It took them a few days more, but they were ready to return. Or as ready as they expected they would ever be. They needed to get back to the surface. However long it took them to make it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes it is one of the shorter chapters and yes I did take six days to write it. Next chapter will be longer and a shorter wait!


	15. The Return Home/The Vault

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YES IT TOOK FOREVER, AND YES IT'S NOT THE BEST. Hopefully shorter wait before the next one, illness is a jerk!

For the five, the journey back was nearly as simple as the way there. There were a lot more breaks for rest, and it took a lot longer; but the actual routes themselves were simple. 

Until they arrived back at Base Camp Alpha. The cave ceiling was caved in, the building they had stayed in previously had a giant rock struck through the middle of it. Something had definitely gone wrong. 

Scott and Stefan had recovered to the point that they could’ve continued onwards like normal - though it probably wouldn’t be great for overall recovery - but everyone needed to go slower at this point.

They progressed through the Base Camp, looking around at the difference to what they remembered it to be. The sides of the Base Camp - the sections with a lower elevation - were flooded with the strange lava-like liquid. 

Despite the confusion, they spent that night at the Base Camp, Tubbo and Lauren keeping watch. They couldn’t sleep inside the building itself, but even the larger base area would hopefully be safe. Safer than _whatever_ the tunnel ahead of them contained.

The next day, the five of them ventured out, only to find the lava-like liquid flowing down all around them once they’d stepped a few metres into the tunnel, meaning they had to try to glide from rock spike to rock spike. Luckily, the tunnel caving in meant that there were a lot more rock spikes than before. 

“Finally.” Lauren muttered under her breath once they had finally made it past the strange lava. She hadn’t been sleeping properly, and wasn’t particularly good at flying with the wingsuits, so was possibly the one worrying the most during that time. For a surprisingly high amount for someone who had agreed to come on a wingsuit mission, Lauren very much preferred keeping her feet on solid ground. 

Lauren turned behind her to face Noctis, the other woman having landed just behind her shoulder. “Look, more weird mutant things!” Noctis said, a mixture of sarcasm and humour in her tone. She was beyond caring about if things made sense anymore. Either it was real - so there was no point in questioning it - or it was a dream - so it didn’t matter.

The already-weird mushroom caves had changed. They were tinted in unnatural reds and blues. They sat down, resting, before they would continue again.

~

On his tracker, Alan had noticed the three blips were getting very close to the vault, so he sent Sasha to go and get whoever they were. The other five blips were also moving, but much slower, so weren’t relevant yet. 

Most of the scientists at GDL had found out what was going on, and had convinced Alan to not try to kill them again, stating that it would be much easier to just convince them to not tell anyone, or convince the mainstream media that it was a lie. 

Sasha had got an extra layer of warm clothing, but was still shivering in the cold. 

She was checking her own tracker, and it seemed like the three blips were nearly there, and she saw them. Callum, Phil, and Tommy were climbing out of the now broken borehole hatch doors, shivering. She brought them into the Vault, and once they were wrapped up in some extra layers and around a heater, she spoke properly, more than the few words she had said as she brought them in.

“Welcome to the Vault!” Sasha smiled. “Unfortunately, we are in a volcanic winter, but here at GDL we knew that something would be likely to happen at some point, so we prepared for every eventuality. There’s an entire wing of the Vault we set up for you guys.” She gestured at a door. “I can take you if you want. Anything you’ll need until we’re back to normal is there. You guys don't leave this section until we’re back to normal.” Sasha sounded surprisingly insistent that they weren’t to leave, but none of the trio picked up on it. It was cold, they were tired and scared, it wasn’t surprising. 

The three of them had been in the Vault for nearly a week by the point that Sasha noticed the other five blips - the rest of the Terra Swoop Force - nearly at the surface. As she went to go and get them, Sasha noticed that it had gotten even colder, the blizzard even stronger. 

Sasha helped them out, the remaining five struggling out of the borehole. She brought them back into the Vault as well. 

The Vault was split into sections, which they were all tiredly walking through. Sasha rushed them through most of the Vault, pushing open a currently unlocked door labelled _The Terra Swoop Force and co_. 

“Scott!” Callum stood up from the chair he was sitting in, looking around at the new arrivals. Sasha pulled Noctis over as the others made their way further into the room. “This is for you guys.” Sasha smiled, handing Noctis a map. As Noctis looked over it, Sasha closed the door behind them, leaving them alone.

Callum ran up the stairs to bring the other four people down to them, and they all sat around the tables, sitting on the sofas in the main room behind the door.

“I didn’t realise the door still opened!” Phil exclaimed at the sight of the newer people in the room, elaborating as everyone turned to him, confused. “I thought it had frozen shut. I’d tried to leave, but I couldn’t.”

Noctis turned around, looking up from the map, and pulled at the door. To her surprise, it didn’t open. “Been locked somehow?” she questioned. “This says _enough to last your months, good luck!_ I don’t think it’s a mistake, especially if it’s happened to you too.”

Stefan spoke up, speaking properly for the first time in days. “I mean, I guess we get to know each other better now? Make the best of a bad situation?” he breathed in again, it clearly being more of a challenge since the explosion at the drill, before taking one of the maps that Noctis had put on the tables in front of them. “I mean, it’s not too small a space. I think we’ll have enough food. More than enough bedrooms, a few communal areas, even if it’s not perfect we should be able to make do.”

Callum stood up from his chair at the back of the room, coming more towards the centre of the room. “I think we need some sort of plan. We’ve been spending the past.” he waved his hands about, frustrated. “I don’t even know how long, that’s something we’ll need to keep an eye on. But we need something more organised. Even just some sort of list of ideas we can do. Something to stop us literally dying of boredom.”

Noctis nodded at this. “I’m already getting bored and I’ve been here about half an hour.” she also made her way further into the room. “Callum, right?” he nodded back. “How about the two of us organise things?” she laughed slightly, before adding on to this under her breath, so only he could hear her. “Honestly some of these guys wouldn’t do anything if we don’t organise things.”

Callum smiled properly for the first time in weeks. “So. We’ve established a few things that’re important for everyone here to know.” Everyone turned to Callum, wanting to hear what he said. “GDL tried to kill us. Sasha told me that that’s _not the goal anymore, you’re more useful alive anyway_.” he folded his arms slightly, before continuing. “That same GDL somehow caused a volcanic winter, which is why we’re now locked in here. We worked out it was planned - or at any least they didn’t tell the general public until it was very nearly too late - because Mich.” he paused, smiling at Mich, who smiled back. “And Kristin were brought here - to the Vault itself - before anyone knew about the winter. Tommy also overheard someone asking if it was time to tell everyone yet.”

Everyone nodded at the information given. Even as recently as a month ago, Stefan and Lauren wouldn’t’ve believed their employers would do something like that, but after the recent events everyone had accepted GDL were a lot shadier behind the scenes than on the surface. 

Callum smiled slightly again, trying to be hopeful. “But we’re going to make the best of a bad situation. I’m sure that we’ll all get to know each other very quickly, and it’ll end up being alright in the end.”

Noctis nodded at this, stepping forward. “There’s one really big bedroom. I’d say we can all sleep there, and then we can split off into smaller groups if and when we want to - either at night or during the day.”

Everyone agreed for the most part, and nobody disagreed to the point that they wanted to say anything against it. They weren’t sure what was going to happen, or how long they would remain in their locked away section of the Vault, but it was as good as a starting point as any.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also yeah, this is the penultimate chapter. I think that it makes more sense for the story this way! Though C16 will be a long one!


	16. The Noxcrew

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few months later...

A few months had passed. The volcanic winter had become winter, and finally spring. Scott and Stefan - though still carrying their injuries - had improved their conditions to the point that unless you knew them - unless you could see the traces of pain they tried their best to hide, you wouldn’t have thought they had been injured at all. 

Alan had reopened GDL, the world not knowing what he had done. He had wanted all his staff to come back, but neither Stefan or Lauren wanted to return. 

So when Scott told them about his idea, they both loved it. The five of them - Stefan, Scott, Noctis, Lauren, and Tubbo would be part of a new team in the wingsuit races. Scott’s previous team had fired him, not wanting half of their fliers to be injured. Stefan and Lauren’s technology was enough to set up a new team. Letting Scott and Tubbo follow their dreams without Scott worrying about if he would be fired for not being at 100% health. 

They came up with a structure. Stefan would be the CEO - as the only one who had previous management experience. Scott and Tubbo would be the competitors in the races. Noctis was helping with testing, and just general things. And Lauren would be responsible for something. They honestly didn’t really have a plan, just a few rough ideas.

Alan did pay everyone who took part in the Terra Swoop Force, like he promised. Even though he didn’t completely trust them not to tell anyone, nobody wanted to be involved in anything like what had happened anymore. They would much prefer to have nothing more to do with GDL, or Alan himself; than try to attract any attention to something that they no longer had any evidence more than their words and wounds for. 

With some of the money the five of them got, they decided to buy a small building (after the winters, people wanted to sell spare buildings for any money they could get, so the price dropped massively) and set up a base of operations there.

The new building had got to the point that they could live and work there comfortably. The top floor had about 10 different rooms that could become bedrooms, as well as a bathroom. The middle floor had some larger rooms for meetings, socialising, building things, or anything in between. The ground floor had things like a kitchen, and the other things that weren’t used as much, but were probably very important. But the basement was where the testing and refining of the wingsuits took place. 

There wasn’t a uniform at their new group yet - it didn’t have a name yet either - so Tubbo just wore his school uniform’s shirt and trousers. Noctis came out to meet him, as Lauren and Stefan were working on improving the software, and Scott was helping give them ideas for the improvements. 

“Welcome to the new facility!” Noctis grinned at him. “I’ll go get Scott, your brother can do the tour.”

As promised, Noctis took Tubbo to the meeting room, where Scott, Lauren and Stefan were sitting on a sofa, looking at various design ideas on the projector. 

“Scott!” Noctis called at him. “My turn to talk to Lauren! Tubbo’s here!” Scott stood up, holding onto the sofa’s arm for just a few seconds longer than normal, before reaching into a hug. Stefan also stood up. “I’ll come too.” he said, “I love the tours!”

“Do we have a name yet?” Tubbo asked. “For the group?” Stefan shook his head, with Scott enquiring why Tubbo wanted to know. “Want to show off to people at school.” he admitted. “Also Tommy wouldn’t believe me until I gave him a name.”

They climbed the stairs in silence, only hearing their footsteps against the hard floor. “Welcome.” Stefan said, as he pulled open the door. “To the living area!”

The entire floor of the building had been redone. There was a bathroom, with it’s own cubicles in. Individual bedrooms, for each member of the group, and lots of communal relaxation areas, including a vending machine. The vending machine didn’t charge any money, and was essentially a snack cupboard with extra steps, but they all enjoyed the novelty.

Tubbo had gone straight to the rows of labelled individual bedrooms, ready to claim one. “Who’s Stefan?” Tubbo asked, reading off of one of the signs. Tubbo then turned around, asking Stefan himself a question. “Noxite? Where do you sleep?”

Stefan shook his head. He didn’t like the name anymore. GDL had called him that, claiming that everyone had a professional name, and that his normal name “didn’t have enough, you know..” But that changed the day he left.

“I’m not listed here as Noxite.” he replied. “Because that was always an alias, not me.” Stefan pointed to one of the doors, Tubbo following his finger. 

“Wait.” Tubbo sounded confused. “So you’re not Noxite? Why was that?” Scott and Stefan looked at each other. Even Stefan himself wasn’t completely sure why, it was just always that way.

The tour continued without many other issues. 

It wasn’t the first tour Stefan had done of the building, and it wasn’t to be the last. There was another member than just the five. 

Stefan, Lauren, Scott, Noctis and Tubbo were all happy to get more people to join their company. They wanted a few more people, to be able to discuss things with, to help design the wingsuits, to negotiate brand deals - the people who raced in the wingsuits were treated as full on celebrities by this point - and much more.

Two more people joined the group while it was still in planning stages. The first was one of Noctis’ friends from her previous job, Dr Clint Wulf. He was a scientist, interested in space, and not to be confused with his father - also called Dr Wulf - who wrote motivational philosophy books. The second was another man, also former-GDL, who was very good at optimising aerodynamics and other similar advantages - Avon. 

Stefan and Noctis toured Avon and Clint, who luckily arrived at the same time, and it went very smoothly.

~

Sasha had wondered why Stefan and Lauren hadn’t showed up to work, which is how she ended up realising that there were other jobs than just life at GDL. Ever since she was three, she had lived at GDL, helping there as soon as she was physically capable of it, working as soon as she was legally old enough to. But Stefan and Lauren quitting after getting paid for the mission? Her eyes had been opened. There was more to life than just being a receptionist for her father’s company. 

She had known people worked in other places, people in shops, people in restaurants, the doctors, the teachers, more people didn’t work at GDL than did, but she never quite realised that  _ she _ could do something like that. Working at GDL was always what she saw as her only option, but now she saw that maybe there was more to working than just GDL.

~

The day before the teams were going to be officially announced, the organisers of the wingsuit races asked for a team name. Stefan had called an impromptu meeting, and they were suggesting name ideas, but nobody really had any good ones. Until Scott’s seventh suggestion. “What about the Noxcrew?” he suggested. “Then it’s a proper way of accepting the past, but also change in the future! Noxite? Not any more. I only know Stefan, CEO of the Noxcrew!”

This suggestion was met with agreement. “Noxcrew.” Noctis smiled. “I like it! Good for Stefan to increase his ego again!” 

During the discussion, Lauren was scribbling at something in a notepad. She turned it around, and showed it to them. “What do you think” She asked, showing them a fancy letter N, for Noxcrew, as a potential logo design. 

~

The Noxcrew had a name, they had a logo, they had wingsuits ready, and an actual flying team sorted. At seven, they were definitely the smallest team competing this year, and as a team with half of it’s actual competitors never flown professionally before; they were expected to come in last as a team - especially for their first season. 

The fact of it was that Lauren, Noctis, and Avon had done research into the rules. They worked out exactly what the legal limits were, and pushed the technology to the limit. 

Most teams just took the standard wingsuit and attached their own branding to it. Some teams even added special additions to try to make them faster - more efficient. But Lauren, Noctis, Stefan, and Avon built a new wingsuit from scratch. 

The new wingsuit wasn’t quite the levels of a full body suit that the ones they had used on the Terra Swoop Force mission, but they had a lot more structure to them than the normal racing wingsuits, which definitely gave them the advantage for the aerodynamics of the suit. 

In addition, the Noxcrew did something that no other team had done before, but to their surprise was actually allowed in the regulations. They didn’t make one wingsuit, they made two. It meant both wingsuits could be designed perfectly for the person who used it, even though the two designs ended up looking very different. 

~

Due to team reshuffles, Callum and Phil ended up on the same team. The team that everyone expected would win easily. Unsurprisingly, in the first race of the season they started at the front together. What surprised them was what they saw only a few minutes into the race.

Scott and Tubbo - being on a newly registered team - were starting at the back of the pack. But only minutes in, Scott was flying alongside Callum. He flew upside down, glad of the extra support built in, “Hey Callum!” he smiled, before flying right alongside him, whispering into his ear. “I’m back!”

He grinned again, before diving down, getting his momentum up and pulling ahead, laughing in happiness at how it felt again. The wind, the adrenaline, it made him feel complete again after months of missing part of him. And he was so glad to be back.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's done! I'm quite happy with the ending :D Will be working on some other fics, so if you enjoyed it, stay tuned! Thank you so much for all the support!


End file.
